Magic the Gathering: Virtues and Sins
by doctorpc
Summary: On Planet Earth, Zane Hunter and Luna Howell are siblings living a seemingly normal life running a cafe behind a magically hidden treehouse. But ancient threats from the pocket dimension known as Hell along with chaotic forces from the Multiverse threaten to destroy the peace. Can our heroes save the world and the rest of the Multiverse from an ancient and power-hungry golden evil?
1. Chapter 1 - First Strike

Hello all, my name is P.C., an aspiring writer. I'm writing this Magic: the Gathering fanfic with my own characters based on the magic of planet Earth. Helping me is my best friend, Lunawolfmoon! I tend to swear a lot and it's definitely overall for more mature audiences that enjoy fun animes like Fairy Tail and similar stuff. Anyways, enjoy! And tell me what you think.

 **Magic the Gathering: Virtues and Sins**

 **Book 1 – Heaven and Hell**

 **Chapter 1 – First Strike**

Life is a clusterfuck of random yet completely necessary little moments. For example, if twenty-five-year-old animator Zane Hunter had gone to Hannibal's Happiness Hobby Shop on Saturday like he had originally planned, the entire planet may have gone to hell in a much-burnt handbasket.

"Listen, listen, there's a reason why the library is organized. It's so we don't spend hours to find a spell," Zane assertively spoke into his headset while driving into an empty parking lot. "Just…just…hey, listen to me, find the right spot, card type, subtype, mana cost, power, toughness. You know how it goes. Yes, I know, it's over two thousand cards, Hannah, and I'm bringing 150 more. Try and understand that I'm the one that generally cleans up library-related messes. Sue me, I'm particular. Have a nice day." Zane gave a sarcastic asshole smile that no one saw and hung up on his friend.

Zane got out of his gold slight-more-than-barely-capable 2000 Camry, and walked into the card shop, through the open door, to see a strange sight. The store was in shambles. And not like a disorganized, doing-inventory-badly, type of mess. It was a moving mess. Only things of value had been taken: comic books in sleeves, the cards that were in glass cases, important toys, and if Zane's memory of this place was right, all the signed posters and only the signed posters. Was Hannibal packing up shop and quitting the place?

Hannibal wasn't the most social guy and rather perverted, but it was a good shop. The discounts made it preferable to online shopping. Zane walked carefully over to the counter and tried to find the Kaladesh fatpack in the arrangement of various packs and assorted compilations. A faded reflection of a shaggy, dark-haired man with red eyes and a Tony Stark goatee stared back at him. But no Kaladesh. Sighing and slightly irritated, Zane was about to move on to the next cabinet over when something grabbed his shoulder from behind and scared the ever-living bejeezus out of him.

(Youtube music: Gilderoy Lockhart)

"Holy crap, Hannibal! If I want a heart attack, I'll ask for it!" Zane yelled, clutching his chest. "What is wrong with you!?"

Hannibal just stared at Zane like he was a spider he thought he killed years ago, but also with a hint of psychotic paranoia. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked quietly, but nervously.

"I'm here, in a card shop, looking around at cards, so I'm probably here for a root canal!" Zane shot back. "I need the Kaladesh fatpack!"

Hannibal shot him an angry look, complete with bulging eyes, a skewed, clenching jaw, and veins pulsing in his temple. He hastily walked to the back and after five minutes came back out with a fatpack. He stopped when he got behind the counter and hesitantly looked at the fatpack. Then he looked at Zane and threw it at him. What the hell was wrong with this guy!?

Zane caught the pack as Hannibal slumped back to the back. "What about the money!?" Zane yelled after him.

"It's free!" he yelled back. Zane didn't feel right. It looked like Hannibal was closing down and wasn't happy about it. Maybe business wasn't as good as it appeared to be. Zane took two twenties out of his wallet, placed them on the register, and left.

Zane got into his car and began opening his purchase. He was excited to see what he would get. New artifacts. New badass, brand-spanking-new artifacts. His first booster yielded a strange result. A blank card. Scratch that. Two, three…seven blank cards. Irritated and regretting putting down forty bucks to a jackass swindler like Hannibal, he got out of his car with unnecessary roughness and walked over to the shop. He pulled on the door and found it locked.

"Fucking fantastic…," Zane muttered under his breath.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail Opening 2

I. sousa WE CAN DO IT! motto hatena darakede ikō

fushigi eno tobira wa me no mae ni aru

kono sekaijū ga WONDER LAND

bokura wa mō sudeni WONDER ringu

doki doki ga waku waku ni nattara WONDER furujan

jibuntte dare darō? riarutte nan darō?

ashita wa doushite mienain darō?

koukishin no bun dake leberu UP shiteku

kimi to boku no EVERYDAY sutetamon janai desho?  
oshiete Sense of Wonder

jinsei wa shugyou nari

dakara WE CAN MAKE IT motto hatena sagashi ni ikō

arifureta kotaeja gaman dekinai

mahō ni kakatta WONDER LIFE bokura no mirai wa WONDER ringu.

shitai koto shite ikiteru houga ganbarerujan

LET'S WONDERING!

II. That's right, we can do it! So what if life's full of mysteries?

The miraculous door is right before our eyes.

This entire world is a wonderland.

We're already wondering!

When anticipation turns into excitement,

it'll be wonderful, won't it?

Who am I? And what is real?

Why can't we see tomorrow?

The more curiosity, the more we achieve higher levels.

Our everyday together is pretty fun, don't you think?

Tell me! Sense of Wonder.

Teach it!

Life is full of teachings!

So we can make it!

Let's go search for more mysteries!

I won't be satisfied with the typical answer.

A wonder life that's under a spell.

Our future is full of wonder!

It's better to live your life doing the things you like, because then, you'll be able to work harder!

Let's wonder!

Let's Wondering!

III. Replace video with these shots:

Opening shots of the main 7 characters

Team shot

Logo

Examples of their powers

Funny moments

Past issues, Zane and Luna's family

Allies

Shot of the treehouse

Turns into Bolas' crypt in hell, silhouettes of villains, Tibalt reveal

Tibalt jumps up. Zane fights.

Zane vs. Tibalt. Other heroes vs. their villains.

Zane and Tibalt exchange explosive blows.

Logo

Leaving a scathing review for the shop wouldn't matter if it was closing up, so Zane just drove home in quiet frustration. What did Luna always say? Don't lose your head on the road? Go home scream. Scream at her if he had to. She was always like that. Willing to take the brunt of the blast if it made things better. Best little sister ever.

(Youtube music: Clara's Theme)

Thinking about his little sister relaxed him as he drove to a small, colorful café. Angel Star Café. Luna's café. He got out, taking the fatpack with him, and walked into the café. Luna had just finished handling a customer. Incredibly long brown hair down to her butt, framing a round face with very squishy dimpled cheeks and big green eyes that gazed out from behind a pair of glasses. She wore a white Stitch shirt with an orange hoodie. Zane knew, despite not seeing the details due to the hood being down and the bottom of the hoodie being hidden behind that counter that separated the customer area and the register area, that the hoodie had an orange, black, and white tail on the bottom and ears on the hoodie. She was probably wearing her traditional blue jeans and purple and black shoes.

The only real indicators of their relationship by appearance were their dark hair, round faces, and slightly tan skins. Zane looked more worn and older while Luna looked more like a teenage anime character. Luna spotted Zane walking towards her and waved.

"Pulled anything good?" Luna asked, knowing about her brother's love of fatpacks.

Zane smiled sarcastically and showed her the seven blanks. Luna's expectant facial expression turned to curious confusion.

"I don't get it," Luna summed up.

"Neither do I," Zane answered. "From every angle, they are perfectly normal cards. Sizes of the cards, the sizes of each of the separate sections, and the graphics are all regular, minus the fact that…"

"They're all blank," Luna finished.

"Given to me by a man that seemed to be running for his life. Well, I say given. More like threw."

"Hannibal was leaving."

"Running. He only took things of value. And he forgot to smoke and drink this morning. No odor."

"Sounds like he's in trouble. Did you try and help?"

"Not my issue, and after this unfortunate pull, I'm compelled to not give a damn."

Luna just shakes his head.

"I thought part of being a detective was being there to help people."

"And a part of being an artist is going where there's actual money to be made. If people don't need my help, I don't care. I'm not Sherlock. I just have skills and bellies to fill. And speaking of bellies…"

Luna's employee, Marcia, a rather overweight and permanently bitch-faced blonde lady walked over, carrying a coffee carafe full of what looked like dark feces and shooting a venomous look at Zane.

"The coffee machine's giving me attitude again," Marcia droned, showing further proof that she was just an angry robot.

"We just fixed the restrooms," Luna sighed. "I barely have money and now this. A million tech issues. See, Zane, this is why we need to help people. That way they come back to us for help and maybe they'll pay us to help."

"I understand that," Zane replied. "But seriously, turn it off and back on and see what happens."

"I tried, and it worked," Marcia spat back. "But it won't forever. And that's just the general philosophy, isn't it? If it barely works, it doesn't get fixed."

"I guess that explains why your ass is still on the payroll! Whoa-ho! Somebody stop me!" Zane bellowed and left, leaving a seething Marcia and a regretful Luna with her face in her hands.

"Can I kill him?" Marcia asked her boss.

"Just leave it be, he's harmless," Luna replied.

Zane walked to the Employees Only door and proceeded through to the Manager Only door. Opening it, he walked into a small elevator surrounded by metal plating and a hydraulic puller system. He pressed the up button and the elevator rose at a steady pace…into a wonderful living room. The back of the café lot was not a lot at all, but a huge couple-hundred-year-old tree with a massive treehouse network working through the tree itself.

He took a deep regretful breath at his purchase, smelling varnished wood from the ergonomic furniture around him, a mix of trees. Sounds of notifications, all from the state-of-the-art computer and entertainment systems, punctuated the air in regular intervals. He looked out the windows, which were surrounded by smaller windows fixed with a rainbow of stain glass arranged in shapes of flowers and stars and planets along with other meticulous detail.

The home base of the siblings was big enough for fifteen people easily, but it housed only four at the moment.

He heard the faint sound of murmuring and snoring. He looked at the couch where another inhabitant was sprawled out. Six feet tall and dressed in a navy blue jacket accompanied by plaid red and green PJ's, was Mac Oster, who, aside from Luna, was his best and oldest friend. And as best friends, they often pulled rather immature pranks.

For example, Zane now took this moment to take a scary mask from last Halloween, adhere it to a string tied to a stick, and lower it in front of Mac's face, gently moving it up and down to nudge Mac. Eventually, after about ten nudges, Mac stirred awake and as soon as he could clearly see what was in front of him, he began screaming. Zane started laughing.

Luna barged in.

"What happened!?" she yelled.

Once Mac's heart and breathing rate had calmed and Zane had stopped laughing like a malevolent maniac, Mac uttered, "Your brother's a psychopath."

"Oh, please, Oreo Bear, I'm a sociopath at the most," Zane replied.

"Oh, my God. I thought something had happened. You idiots," Luna said with a rather irritated tone that made her relation to Zane more evident.

Once the shock wore off, Mac was laughing along with Zane while Luna just rolled her eyes and just slightly smiled at them, clearly the most mature of the bunch.

"Cute," Luna sighed. "Did you tell him about the blank cards?"

"Blank what?" Mac asked, more alert than usual.

Zane tossed the blanks over to Mac, who checked them. "Pulled em out of a fat pack," Zane answered.

"What about the rest of the fat pack?" Mac asked.

"Normal," Zane replied. "Actually got some good cards, minus the remarkably lackluster ones. Or lack of anything, for that matter."

Mac took the cards over to a microscope placed them on a table behind the couch and began analyzing them. "They look perfectly all right. Just like any other card, except the fact that they are…"

"Completely fucking blank!" Zane yelled. "Who does this?"

"Calm down," Luna advised. "So you can't go back to Hannibal's and talk to him. Maybe just work with what you got. Use 'em as placeholders or coasters or…"

"Toilet paper!" Mac exclaimed.

Both Zane and Luna look at Mac with questioning expressions, who just looked excited at his idea.

"Okay," Zane replied. "Remind me to never touch your deck."

Mac just rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, try to not blow up at any more people and I'll make you some dessert tonight, okay?" Luna promised. "Chocolate?"

"Lots. Love you, Squishy," Zane answered.

"Love you," Luna gave him a one-armed hug and headed back to work.

As Luna left, the doorbell to the front door of the treehouse rang. Zane opened it to find a pair of ladies. A tall, blonde with blue eyes, looked down at Zane. Her long blue jacket and skirt with orange trimming complemented her pale skin, which accented her dark blue boots. She gave him a bored look and went back reading her Times magazine.

Next to her was a short dark-skinned Asian with big green eyes that matched her green blouse and a frilly pink miniskirt. The whole attire was covered in paint as she looked up at Zane ecstatically.

"No soliciting!" Zane exclaimed and jokingly tried to close the door, however, the blonde used her hand to force it open and gave him an irritated look.

"You're hilarious," the blonde grumbled and walked in.

The brunette walked up to Zane and said, "I think you're funny, if not a tad aggressive and clearly emotionally damaged. What made you this way?"

"Moving on," Zane concluded the exchange and walked over to his friends. Hannah followed him in.

"Hey, Hannah," Mac greeted the brunette, trying to smooth out his wrinkled garments, in the process.

"Hey, Mac!" Hannah replied as she looked over to the side table where Mac was working. "What's with the blanks? Making your own cards?"

"Ah, no, Zane pulled them out of a fat pack and he's upset about it."

"Who does this!?" Zane yelled in response. "Becky, you have people working for you. Any of them do this? Fire em."

The blonde, Becky, answered while clearly invested in her magazine, "I'll try to convey your feelings in every termination letter."

Becky then sighed, as she put down her magazine and walked over to the cards to examine them. "Someone went to some serious trouble to make em look really authentic."

Hannah, losing interest in the cards already, asked, "Where's Jack?"

A voice answered from the back of the room. "What? What!? Who's talking about me?"

Everyone looked around to where the voice came from only to see a tall, well-built Native American man sitting against a wall listening to gaming videos through his head phones. He was so silent that everyone missed him.

"So you heard my toilet paper comment?" Mac asked.

"Yep, and all your sleep-talking about how much you like Asian breasts," Jack replied.

Mac wondered about this for a moment and then just smiled.

"The blanks could be a prank by Wizards," Jack said. "Or maybe by Hannibal. Were the packs sealed perfectly?"

"Sealed, wrapped, box, and then the box was wrapped," Zane confirmed.

"Wizards?" Hannah asked.

"Wizards of the Coast. Publishers of the game," Becky replied.

Luna entered at this moment and looked at Jack. She walked over to him and kissed him on the lips.

"Hey, babe, where have you been all day?" Luna asked.

"Seriously?" Jack asked back, looking around. Everyone was amused by this, except Luna, who looked confused.

"So, what's the plan of action?" Becky asked.

"Apparently, nothing if I want chocolatey goodness tonight," Zane replied.

"Aww, he's learning. My brother's all grown up," Luna joked.

"Hilarious…," Zane mused back.

"So I should get on that library clean-up job?" Hannah asked.

"That'd be great. I'll join you later," Zane answered.

"Aww…," Hannah said then it dawned on her, he was full of shit. "No, you won't."

"No, I won't," Zane confirmed.

"Oh, hey, Sassy Lady," Becky said to Zane.

"Yes? He said, regrettably," Zane replied.

"Where's that cop chick friend of yours? Maybe she can look over the blanks," Becky inquired.

"She prefers Miss Cop Chick Friend, and she said she'd be around sometime later today."

"When's 'sometime later today'?"

The doorbell rang.

"Um…now?"

Zane walked over to the door and opened it to reveal a rather attractive girl with shoulder-length red hair and light blue eyes with freckles hinting her beige skin. Her black jacket barely covered her gun holster, but still contrasted well with her white button-up shirt, black suspenders, and a yellow-black striped tie. Her hip jutted to one side causing her thigh-high black pencil skirt to hug her hips, while her black flats calmed the look from overly sexy. Zane noticed a deck box that hung off the other side, concealing her deck. Also, that she was holding a thick manila folder, but his eye drifted away from that when he noticed a huge double chocolate chunk muffin in her hand and muffin crumbs around her mouth.

"Officer Eats-a-lot?" Zane chortled. "Sorry, no. Detective Inspector Eats-a-lot!"

"Bite me," the cop replied.

"Is that what the muffin said to you this morning?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Luna interrupted. "Stop being mean to my favorite customer. Come in, Mary."

Mary smiled at Luna and walked in, smacking Zane in the stomach with the folder as she walked past him.

"Is that a case?" Zane asked.

"Yep," Mary answered, "Weird one, vics are seemingly random and unrelated, all torn up with very precise bite marks on their abdomens, any ideas?"

"Yeah, don't go where they're going," Mac answered back.

Zane nodded in sarcastic agreement and said, "Anyways, they're in the morgue?"

"Yep, waiting for us," Mary replied.

Mac turned around from his check-up of the cards and asked, "Hey, the PSMP isn't exactly a branch of the government, so how exactly do you get these people to just hand over evidence and dead bodies to you guys? Do you use some spy techniques, some CIA/FBI/KGB contacts, maybe some fake ID's?"

"Um…no," Mary replied. "We use magic."

"Oh, right…that was obvious," Mac mumbled and returned to his work.

"Let's go," Zane announced. "Luna?"

"What, you just want me to leave my day job and go solving crimes with you?" Luna asked.

"Yes, just leave Marcia in charge," Zane answered. "Besides, you always hear about how robots replacing people's jobs. That can be you!"

Luna gave him a sarcastic smile, followed by an annoyed eye roll, then kissed Jack, and walked out the door.

The three of them drove in Mary's Ford Interceptor for a total of fifteen minutes, during which Mary proved that driving wasn't her most suited method of transportation. She had a lead foot, a disregard for traffic laws, and a disturbing degree of road rage. Fortunately, her rude comments to drivers were kept mostly illegible due to a constant stream of food entering her mouth. Unfortunately, Zane joined in on the screaming while Luna sat in the back, annoyed and mildly embarrassed to be associated with the two screamers.

Once they reached R.E. Jenner-Hait Medical Hospital, Luna was more relieved and willing to admit her affiliation with them. They walked down to the morgue and saw five bodies waiting for them. The mortician was passed out in front of the computer with half a sandwich in his hand. The meats inside were slipping out against the artery-clogging mayo-lacquered bread.

"Well, what do you think, Sherlock?" Mary asked.

Zane rolled his eyes and began opening the body bags, making mental notes of what he saw. Luna chose to look around herself to assist the investigation. Mary snapped her fingers in front of the mortician's face, with no reaction.

After ten minutes, Zane clapped his hands together.

Mary stood steady in anticipation, "So, what's up with them?"

Zane took a breath and replied, "Okay, all five have lacerations around neck and back, suggesting they were chased down. All of them have hobbled ankles, suggesting they were allowed to run while the chaser took shots at them with something sharp, due to ankles wounds and bruises. The pursuer could have caught them at any time, highlighting a sadistic attitude, showing a need to cause harm. This is cold-blooded murder. The bite marks on the abdomen are practiced and surgical, not passionate and imprecise. I would say a trained animal…except…"

"The claw marks," Luna finished.

"Exactly, five fingers. Four plus thumb. A human hand." Zane smiled. "No, it can't be. Wow. All your life, you wish and you wonder, and now…wow!"

"What?" Mary asked.

Zane twirled around, excited. "A mix of man and beast. The epitome of wrath and gluttony. Of rage and animal instinct. Intelligence coupled with power. My God, I have never…!" Zane is interrupted by Luna, clearing her throat. "What?" he asks. "Enjoying it too much?"

"A tad," Luna replied. "Remember. People died."

"Right…sorry…," Zane murmured.

"What? What is it?" Mary asked.

Zane looked at Luna, who sighed. "Fine, be happy!"

"It's a werewolf!"

This managed to wake the mortician up. He stood up and looked at the three of them. "Are you all supposed to be dead or alive?"

"Dead," Zane replied.

The mortician looked shocked and passed out on the spot.

"Really?" Luna asked, exasperated.

Zane whooped and ran out, his jacket billowing in motion behind him.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked.

"To take care of the wolf!" Zane answered from the hall.

Luna ran out after him.

"Where are _you_ going?" Mary asked her.

"To take care of _him_!" Luna answered.

Luna caught up to him as they exited the hospital.

"So, got a plan?" she asked.

"Yes, we need to go a card shop!" Zane answered, excited.

"What? Didn't you already go to one today?"

"Not to buy, but to save."

"Wait, card shop owners are the target?"

"Ah, good, you're keeping up. Yes, vic number one, actually named Vic. Victor Rosas. Owned Vic's Comics on Main Street. Then Sally Descartes owned Philosophic Games near the old stadium. Cooper and Stan Salvatore, twin owners of Salvatores' Salvation Sanctum in the mall. And then-"

"Uma Redding, Redding Comics on 5th Street. I know her. She went to high school with mom."

"Sorry about that. Our wolf is making his way downtown. Which means the next vic is-"

"Hannibal Hogan of Hannibal's Happiness Hobby Shop. That's why he was leaving in a hurry."

"There's a wolf on his tail."

"We better hurry then," Luna said, then whistled for a cab.

Taking the cab down to Hannibal's shop, they arrive to see the door of the place had been ripped off.

"We're too late," Luna sighed.

"Wait out here," Zane said and walked in.

"Not likely!" Luna went in after him.

Immediately, the room felt weird and energetic. Zane and Luna's hairs stood on edge. Like that feeling…before a storm…before lightning.

(Youtube music: Eisenwolf)

Zane pushed Luna out of the way as a Lightning Bolt cut through the air and blasted the entire wall off, barely missing the siblings.

(See card: Lightning Bolt)

Zane looked up and saw the caster of the red spell. A tall man in dark clothing with spiky hair, breathing with growling grunts. He had glowing red eyes. The man slowly rounded upon his prey. Zane got to his feet and charged himself up for an attack. The man bristled with electricity. Luna got up and cast a spell on herself as the man launched the next attack. A blue mask appeared on her face.

(See card: Auramancer's Guise)

Zane countered with his own blast of lightning, forming a helix shape with the blast and pulling some energy towards himself.

(See card: Lightning Helix)

Luna's protective spell gave her time to send a counter spell to deflect the man's attack and blast him off his feet, as well as cover him with a layer of ice which began melting off.

(See card: Flashfreeze)

Zane glowed with energy as his Helix spell healed his power.

"Run, let's run!" Luna exclaimed. And they ran.

"Hannibal is having a horrible day!" Zane yelled back.

Suddenly, a howl pierced the air as the man shot out of the store at blinding speed, shot to the roof, raced across the rooftops, jumped off, and stopped in front of the siblings.

"Worry about our day, will you?" Luna mumbled.

The man smiled. He had spiky blonde hair and a trimmed beard, a ridiculously muscular body covered with black jeans and dark blue jacket with no shirt. He took off his jacket and dropped to all fours. He writhed in pain as the sounds of bones crunching as his body transformed, causing his skin to blacken. The arms elongated and he grew fur all over his body that was white, coarse, and matted with blood. His hands grew claws; legs became similar to wolf legs, just bigger and far more muscular, capable of supporting an upright beast. The ears moved up and came to points. The nose and upper jaw combined as razor sharp fangs grew and jutted out painfully. A long pink, tongue splashed saliva everywhere. The red eyes lost their sclera and became a disturbing, angry red with crescent pupils moving rapidly in every direction.

"Well…," Zane summed up. "Fuck."

The siblings ran. The massive lycanthrope rampaged after them, gaining speed with each stride, despite the bulky size.

"Hang on!" Luna yelled as she blasted the wolf with ice and trapped it in a massive cage.

(See card: Ice Cage)

"That's not permanent," Zane warned as the ice started cracking as the wolf began glowing, generating more and more heat.

"Which is why I hope you have an actual plan," Luna squeaked, wavering with anticipation and fear, mirroring the panic welling up in Zane's chest.

"On it," Zane said, more confident than he felt. He reached down, his hands sinking into the ground, using it as a platform for a portal into another hammerspace dimension. A dimension to store powerful weapons, out of which, with one swift motion, he pulled out….a throwing knife…

(See card: Throwing Knife)

"Are you kidding me?" Luna whispered as she and Zane backed away quickly from the now caving cage of ice. The wolf roared and thrashed his way out. Zane threw the knife back into the ground and it sank back into hammerspace.

"I need to focus! Not panic! Call your fiancé, Luna!" Zane yelled.

The werewolf roared. Luna pulled out her phone and sent a quick text.

"Not helping!" Zane yelled again.

(Youtube music: Fairy tail (Original Theme) No Remix (Fired Up theme))

The wolf charged at them. Luna tried to not run away to support Zane, who sank his hands into the ground again. The wolf was suddenly just a few feet from Zane when Zane swung what he grabbed from the hammerspace…which happened to be a massive volcanic hammer, which hit the wolf dead in the face and sent him flying. Zane then threw the hammer at the wolf. It charged in midair with another Lightning Helix spell, exploding with powerful force upon contact with the wolf and restoring some of Zane's strength.

(See card: Sunforger)

"How's that for a plan?" Zane asked.

"So glad you didn't say 'hammer time'," Luna replied.

"I thought about it."

The wolf got up and shot upwards, ran on the wall, and then swung down. The siblings jumped back to dodge him and shot repeatedly blasts of wind and fire at him, disorienting and burning him, but barely keeping him at bay, as it seemed he was slowly gaining strength through a spell of his own. He tried to retaliate with blasts of fire from his mouth.

(See card: Denying Wind)

(See card: Scattershot)

(See card: Firebreathing)

The siblings parried, dodged, and swung at the wolf, going back and forth, until Luna activated a powerful move, releasing waves of blue energy, letting a surge of mental prowess enter the two of them. The sun turned blue.

(See card: Blue Sun's Zenith)

Zane used the flood of power and mental clarity to gather volumes of strength and firepower. The sun turned red as Zane sent a blast of fire at the wolf and sent it flying back with a massive explosion. All the nearby cars were either upturned or their alarms were going off.

(See card: Red Sun's Zenith)

"That's a load of collateral damage," Luna warned.

"We'll deal with it after this," Zane started walking towards the still wolf. Suddenly, the earth cracked open underneath the wolf and swallowed it. Then it closed up, seamlessly, as if nothing happened.

(See card: Entomb)

"What the hell?" Zane whispered. Luna ran over, equally surprised.

Zane ran about ten yards ahead and looked around. Then he looked at Luna and shrugged.

"Guess we win! Maybe we don't need Jacky-boy to handle the big guns after all!" Zane announced.

Zane started to walk back to Luna when the earth erupted behind him and the wolf burst out!

"ZANE!" Luna cried out. But it was too late. As Zane spun around, the wolf grabbed him. They rolled on the ground. Luna ran to them. The wolf pinned Zane down and sank its fangs into Zane's side. Zane screamed in pain. Luna screamed in return...but in anguish.

Suddenly, lights flared on to the scene with a sobering sound of a car horn. An SUV rammed into the wolf. The wolf knocked away, got back up and ran off, fast as ever. Jack got out of the SUV and ran to Zane's side. Luna lit up her hands with a spell, ran to Zane's side, and began trying to heal him.

(See card: Healing Hands)

Zane's eyes rolled into his head and copious amounts of blood poured out of his wound. All he heard before he finally lost consciousness was Luna's cries, "Zane, no! ZANE! ZAAAAAAANE!"

 _(To be continued…)_


	2. Chapter 2 - Madness

**Chapter 2 - Madness**

The breakneck drive to the hospital cemented a few things as fact. One, people under pressure tend to bleed out faster, despite a Healing Hands spell. Two, Jack translated driving fast to driving like he's playing Grand Theft Auto while being drunk off his ass. Amazingly, he was sober.

(See card: Healing Hands)

Jack careened the car into a parking spot near the entrance. The two of them got a blood-soaked Zane into the building.

Hours later, Zane was resting on a hospital bed, patched up, unconscious, but otherwise…alive.

(Youtube music: All Our Days Instrumental)

Mac, Becky, and Hannah got to the hospital within half an hour of hearing about the incident, eager for details, which Luna quietly entrusted them with, on the other hand telling the doctors that there was a mugging gone bad. The five of them waited patiently, but nervously, for any news.

"I've never heard of such a thing," Becky spoke up after a long silence. "A werewolf that could perform spells. I thought they were practically like rabid animals. A person's id gone insane."

"You said he could use Lightning Bolt and Firebreathing?" Mac asked.

"Yeah," Luna replied, barely in the conversation. Her mind was clearly elsewhere. Jack hugged her. She sank into his arms, desperate for comfort.

"He'll be okay," Jack assured her. "Remember how he got blasted by lightning that one time? He bounced back easily. And he's grown way more powerful since then."

"I know, it's just…," Luna started as the memory of the fight flooded back to her. She got angry and stood up. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"You okay, Luna?" Hannah asked.

"We need to find that wolf," Luna said. "And beat the fur off his ass."

"Um…maybe after Zane wakes up?" Mac offered. "That way, we might be stronger in numbers?"

Luna sat back down, clearly still deep in aggravated thought.

"I think we should talk about the Loxodon in the room," Becky spoke up. "Or should I say werewolf?"

(See card: Loxodon Mystic)

Luna looked up at her at this word. Werewolf.

Becky continued, "He was bitten by a werewolf, possibly an Alpha by how you described his size and speed."

"So, he's one too…," Luna finished the thought, speaking with a seemingly emotionless, but strained voice. "Great."

"Hey, I don't want this any more than you do," Becky countered the mood. "I just figured, since we know what's going to happen, we ought to prepare for it."

"What's gonna happen?" Hannah asked nervously.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail Opening 2)

I. sousa WE CAN DO IT! motto hatena darakede ikō

fushigi eno tobira wa me no mae ni aru

kono sekaijū ga WONDER LAND

bokura wa mō sudeni WONDER ringu

doki doki ga waku waku ni nattara WONDER furujan

jibuntte dare darō? riarutte nan darō?

ashita wa doushite mienain darō?

koukishin no bun dake leberu UP shiteku

kimi to boku no EVERYDAY sutetamon janai desho?  
oshiete Sense of Wonder

jinsei wa shugyou nari

dakara WE CAN MAKE IT motto hatena sagashi ni ikō

arifureta kotaeja gaman dekinai

mahō ni kakatta WONDER LIFE bokura no mirai wa WONDER ringu.

shitai koto shite ikiteru houga ganbarerujan

LET'S WONDERING!

II. That's right, we can do it! So what if life's full of mysteries?

The miraculous door is right before our eyes.

This entire world is a wonderland.

We're already wondering!

When anticipation turns into excitement,

it'll be wonderful, won't it?

Who am I? And what is real?

Why can't we see tomorrow?

The more curiosity, the more we achieve higher levels.

Our every day together is pretty fun, don't you think?

Tell me! Sense of Wonder.

Teach it!

Life is full of teachings!

So we can make it!

Let's go search for more mysteries!

I won't be satisfied with the typical answer.

A wonder life that's under a spell.

Our future is full of wonder!

It's better to live your life doing the things you like because then, you'll be able to work harder!

Let's wonder!

Let's Wondering!

III. Replace video with these shots:

Opening shots of the main 7 characters

Team shot

Logo

Examples of their powers

Funny moments

Past issues, Zane and Luna's family

Allies

Shot of the treehouse

Turns into Bolas' crypt in hell, silhouettes of villains, Tibalt reveal

Tibalt jumps up. Zane fights.

Zane vs. Tibalt. Other heroes vs. their villains.

Zane and Tibalt exchange explosive blows.

Logo

Voices…roaring…fire and lightning everywhere…all hell breaking loose…

"Your heart is mine…you are mine…howl with me, Zane Hunter…Come to me…"

(Youtube music: Pudding Brains)

Suddenly, Zane's eyes popped open. And immediately, he was assaulted by sensory information. The beeping in every room…crying…laughing…screaming…footsteps of all sorts…heavy people…small people…hobbled people…dead people…dead…people…so much death…the smell of death…chemicals…food…that is not good food…one long sniff as he gets up…everything is red…where's food? Zane needs food.

He yanked the IV tubes out of his arms, setting off alarms, the sound disorienting him. The nurse ran in, but Zane saw nothing but a dark shape…what was she? Enemy? Some creature? Prey?

He ran past her, pushing her aside with unnecessary force and blasting through the place. People screamed as he blurred past them, barely capable of thinking straight.

He tried to sneak about as people ran to the room. Clearly, no one realized that he was the escapee. He stumbled past the waiting room and none of his team members saw him walk past them until he fell down the stairs that he didn't realize were there.

His teammates, drawn there by the commotion, tried to stop him. But he ran past them like they weren't even there.

"Zane! Stop!"

"Don't let him get outside!"

He ran back up, multiple step at a time. Now everyone knew who he was and that he was out. He hightailed it, everyone after him. Left and right and left again, people screaming and running out of his way. He needed an escape and he saw it.

He got on top of a gurney and managed to propel it forward with seemingly little effort.

(See card: Uncanny Speed)

He looked behind him to see a mass of indiscernible meaty-smelling figures running behind him. Ahead of him, a load of security guards assembled. He just jumped over them as they stopped the gurney. He took two bounds and flew out the window…into a dumpster. Head spinning, feeling sick and groggy, he climbed out of the dumpster and stumbled away from the hospital. Security guards and police officers filled the area, but he was fast enough to keep out of their line of sight.

He ran…farther and farther…until the metal and road of the city turned into forest…he roared and ran…until he stopped…lying there…he heard a voice…that voice…

"You are on a journey now…like me…you're just like me…and with time, you will realize that you no longer belong with humanity…join me…and howl with me…"

Suddenly, Zane woke up, coherent and very aware…that aside from a hospital gown, he was practically naked…and covered in mud, dirt, and leaves…

He got up, blinked his eyes furiously and shook his head. He stood up, looked around. He was in a dense part of the woods. It was day time, but the canopy let only a small portion of the sun in, making the area significantly darker and rather cold. There were patches of snow everywhere.

"What the hell is going on?"

He walked on for about an hour until he heard it…singing. He walked ahead until he came to a clearing. He saw a group of girl scouts, snug and happy, singing and enjoying the tamed wilderness around them. A roaring fire, s'mores in hands, and very annoying, sappy songs being sung. Zane demonstrated his lack of care given by marching into camp, scaring the girls and their chaperones in the process, then yanking away their picnic blanket, wrapping it around himself, and walking off, leaving the girls in shock.

The path from the clearing led him to a road that he took all the way back into town. The thought of where he needed to go was embedded in his mind. He needed to see the person that started all this.

Eventually, he managed to herald a Greyhound heading for the city. The portly old bus driver took pity on Zane's worn down and pathetic appearance and gave him a free ride.

As Zane sat towards the back, he realized he was attracting weird looks. People stared at him with judgement and scorn in their eyes at his roughed-up appearance, but looked away when he looked right back at them. He could feel his anger rising at them. Urges to smack them…no, not smack…hurt…rip…tear…wait, what?

He became aware of the man next to him eyeing him nervously. He guessed his anger was showing in his facial expression, and he changed it quickly to an expression of challenge to towards the man, who quickly looked away. Zane's stomach growled. Appropriately, the music in the bus played this song…

"Straddle the line in discord and rhyme  
I'm on the hunt down I'm after you  
Mouth is alive with juices like wine  
And I'm hungry like the wolf"

At least he knew that when he found her, she'd be around food.

Back at the hospital, the team relayed a convincing cover story to the cops and managed to get them off their backs. Something about severe PTSD and the munchies. Which wasn't that far away from the truth.

Luna started walking away from the whole fiasco at a brisk pace. Jack ran after her.

"Hold up," he stopped her. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going?" Luna replies, clearly exasperated.

"To make a mistake. You're angry and you need to calm down."

"Jack, when in the history of ever has a woman calmed down by being told to calm down?"

"Okay, how about think clearly? We don't know where Zane is! He could be in a different city! He could be in jail! He could be dead in a-"

"Don't say that!"

"I'm just saying. We need to get some eyes in the city. And not the team. Becky needs to go to work and Hannah's got school. The three of us can go around and see what we can find but we need some scouts. Trust me."

"I do trust you. I'm just…"

"I know. You're scared. Especially since we don't know what state of mind he's in."

"Okay, what's your plan?"

"Yes, I love making the plan."

"Could you BE more full of yourself?"

"I am not full of myself!"

"Yes, you are. Just last week, you and Zane argued about the latest Pokémon games. And it was a matter of opinion. You argued about a matter of opinion! And here we are, having an argument about whether you're full of yourself."

"You wanna see my plan or not?"

"Fine!"

Jack cupped his hands around his hand and blew hard four times. Which each blast of air, a large brown Squadron Hawk rapidly grew out of the opening in his cupped hands, and flew up into the air.

(See card: Squadron Hawk)

"Find this guy!" Jack held up his phone to show the Hawks a picture of Zane. One by one, the hawks looked at the picture, nodded, and flew off, each one headed in one of the cardinal directions.

Jack looked at Luna triumphantly, but she looked she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Did you just spit out hawks?"

"Squadron Hawks. They are called Squadron Hawks. And no, I did not spit them out. I made them materialize out of my hands. The spitting was just for show."

"Just brush before we kiss, just in case." Luna started walking back to the hospital.

"They didn't come from my mouth!" Jack yelled after her.

"Just in case, Bird Boy!" she yelled back.

On the bus, Zane was deep in thought. Now, where would she go? She didn't give any hints. Maybe she was looking for him too. Maybe the first place they met…?

Six years ago, he had gotten involved in a case about a black market organ trade. His first case. A group of Goatnapper goblins were kidnapping people instead of their usual prey of goats and stripping them for parts. He had gotten wind of the case after the goblins slipped up. And that led him to their hideout, a 4-star restaurant called Dallesandro's. They had kidnapped a girl who was trying to use herself as bait, despite not being an agent of the PSMP at the time, but that didn't stop her.

(See card: Goatnapper)

She messed up and they had to come out of the shadows to get her. Zane and Luna had arrived and after Zane took a bolt of lightning from a point-blank range, cleared their operation up and saved at least ten other people. Mary had begun relying on Zane and Luna for her hard cases ever since, with monetary compensation.

Zane quickly got off on the first stop in the city and walked briskly through downtown, mainly to get to his goal faster, but also because if he didn't keep moving and keeping warm, he'd be feeling the chilly air on his naked butt.

People stared at him and walked away briskly. Some took pics. After a few angry stares back and a few birds flipped at jerks, he finally found it. Dallesandro's. It had become a better place since the goblins were cleared out.

He walked in and the maître d' immediately looked offended at his appearance. He walked over to the man, who backed up, but tried to maintain a professional composure.

"Excuse me, hi, is there a reservation for Mary Soul?" Zane asked the appalled man. The maître d' immediately started checking the log.

"Yes," he replied. "Um…she's in there right now…with her date. Only two for the reservation, so I'm afraid she may not be expecting a guest. Especially one dressed in a manner so…risqué."

"Yeah, I figured. About the risqué. Not the date. How does she even get time for a date with her work?"

The maître d' seemed too dumbfounded to answer.

"By the way," Zane continued. "What size is your suit?"

"Uh…48R?"

"Put her there." Zane extended his left hand in a friendly gesture. The man was confused for a second, but took the handshake. Zane immediately yanked the man towards him and used his index and middle fingers on his right hand to deliver a blow to the man's pressure point at the external carotid artery. The man went down instantly.

"New clothes," Zane summed up. "Yahtzee."

(See card: Pressure Point)

Zane walked into the dining area and saw her. Very obvious by her red hair and big, bright, blue eyes.

(Youtube music: Boop Instrumental)

She was wearing a little black dress and black alligator shoes. She looked…good. She looked rather good.

"So…," Mary said to her date. "Um…you're relatively new in town. What exactly brought you here?"

"Just got a tip from a friend about the PSMP. I figured it would be a good career upgrade from being a regular detective. The perps are stranger, but overall, I think it's a better job. Let me tell you about this one time…"

As the story went on, Mary started losing focus and interest, mainly because she had actually been there when the incident went down. She started looking around and saw the maître d' approaching the table, but he looked different…and familiar…wait…no…

Zane sat down at their table, catching Mary's co-worker/date by surprise, and prompting Mary to give him the deadliest of death stares.

"Um…excuse me?" Mary's date stared at him.

"You're excused," Zane replied.

"What the hell are you doing here, Zane?" Mary hissed through gritted teeth.

"Um…you guys know each other?" the date asked, feeling rather out of the loop.

Mary sighs, "Brent, this is a friend of mine, Zane Hunter. Zane, this is a colleague of mine, Brent Dingley."

"Hi, there. There's an unfortunate last name, BTW," Zane chortled. "Anyways, I'm gonna need you guys to take a rain check on the office romance. I gotta talk to you about something, Mary."

"No!" Mary exclaimed. "Leave, Zane! And did you seriously steal the maître d's clothes?"

"Hey, it was either this or a hospital gown. At least it's professional, unlike your Goodwill dress and shoes that are clearly made for a woman smaller than you and then cleaned and tailored to fit as evidenced by the very clean stitching job and scraps of fabric that are clearly from other clothes. Also, the scuff marks on your shoes."

Mary turned as red as her hair and looked like she wanted to put Zane back in the hospital.

"At least you're not as bad as Officer Butt Clencher here. Seriously, enough flatulence already. I can smell all of it from outside the restaurant and your cheap-ass cologne isn't helping. Either take care of it or leave, Dickley."

"Um, it's Dingley. And I should go," Brent Dingley got up.

"Brent, wait," Mary started. But Brent walked away quickly. Mary shot Zane an angry look. Zane shrugged and started eating the bread and butter.

"I liked him," Zane said, with a full mouth. "Anyways, that case you sent me on? It bites."

"Then forget it and hand back the case files."

"Oh, no, I'm definitely taking the case. Except it's not a normal cloak-and-dagger type thing. It's officially a personal issue and it's officially a war."

"A war? Aren't you exaggerating this just a tiny bit?"

"Case in point. Every victim of the werewolf was a card shop owner. Clearly, this is about bigger than just animal instinct. He was on a hunt. He's not a wild man. And he's not without resources."

"So he's targeting them on purpose for…?"

"Seven blank cards."

"Blank cards?"

"Yesterday…wait, what day is it?"

"Saturday…"

"Yes, yesterday, I opened a fatpack from the same place that the wolf attacked last and the immediate first pull was seven blank cards. It's pretty ridiculous. And I thought it was a mistake. But right now, my gut (which is empty and trying to digest itself) tells me that there is something important about those blanks. Also, the owner of that shop was running away when I saw him earlier in the day. I'm guessing he handed me the fatpack with the blanks so he wouldn't be a target. Oh, well."

"What happened to you?"

Zane put down the piece of bread he was about to eat and looked at Mary.

"Let's go," Zane said and left. Mary quickly followed him out. Outside, she found him sniffing the air.

"What? What do you smell?" she asked.

"Everything!" he shouted, scaring an old lady walking by. Zane started walking ahead, with Mary following behind. "That lady owns way too many cats and rubs too much Vaseline on her heels. You should get a new deodorant, Mary. It won't stand up to a sweaty situation, much like the one you were intending to have tonight with your friend. Good thing he bailed anyway, considering he was married."

"Excuse me?"

"Tan line on his left hand ring finger. Works outside a lot. Part of the job. Removed the ring for you. Just for you. Don't be flattered. He thought you'd be easy."

"I hate you."

"I know."

"What the hell happened to you?"

"I got bit by a werewolf. I need to find my way back home." Mary looked both shocked and confused at this but didn't have the time to process her emotions because at this time, Zane looked up and saw a hawk circling above him and he smiled. "And my ride home should be here in 3…2…1…"

Jack's truck careened over to them in a hazardous parallel park. Luna got out and immediately began assaulting Zane with punches and kicks. Zane tried to calm her down while protecting his vitals, despite knowing that she would never intentionally hit him there.

"You…big…stupid…jerk! Making me worry! I stayed up all night! And you! Gah! Salvador never gave me this much trouble!"

"Who's Salvador?" Mary yelled over Luna's explosion.

"Our brother!" Zane yelled back. "Middle child! He would be around but he's on the other side of the country on an army base with his family!"

"You absolute asshole!" Luna yelled and just couldn't do it anymore. Jack hugged her from behind. Zane just looked sorry and defeated, but didn't dare hug her. She got back into the truck. Jack gestured Zane towards the truck. Zane got in.

"Coming?" he asked Mary. Mary got in.

"Thanks for paying, by the way," Zane said to her.

"I didn't pay," Mary replied, suddenly deadly serious.

Both of them stared at each other as the realization dawned on them.

"Well, we're never going back there," Zane summed up.

"Nope," Mary agreed.

"You morons," Luna sighed.

The drive home was rather quiet after that. As they pulled into the Angel Star Café parking lot. Luna immediately got out of the car and hastily walked in. Jack just gave Zane an apologetic thumbs-up and followed her in.

Zane and Mary made their slow way in. Zane noticed Mary was smiling.

"What?" he asked.

"It's nothing much," she replied. "It's just that you're such a big bad asshole all the time and then your little baby sister shows up and you turn to liquid."

"I do not-"

"It's cute."

Mary walks on as Zane was left to ponder this. He smiled slightly, caught himself, looked around, and walked in.

The four of them made their way to the elevator in the back.

"Luna, I'm really sorry for making you worry so much," Zane softly said to her. "I wasn't in my right mind and I was freaking out. Please."

"I know," she replied. "But after what happened to you, we've all been thinking, and the thing is…"

"You probably won't like this," Jack continued. "But you're a-"

"Werewolf," Zane finished.

Dead silence.

"Well, it's sorta obvious," Zane broke the awkward silence. "Get bitten by a werewolf. Only two ways to go. Either turn or…die."

Luna socked Zane in the arm at that last word, clearly still emotional over the whole situation. Zane just takes it. Mary can't help but smile at this.

"How are the others taking it?" Mary asked.

"They seemed okay at the hospital. They came back here after I told em we found Zane. They should be home and…"

They reached the top and opened the door to get inside when suddenly…

"SURPRISE!" Mac and Hannah's yells almost deafened the others.

"HAPPY WEREWOLF DAY!" Hannah yells.

"Holy crap," Zane replied in an unamused voice.

The room had been decorated with wolf plushies. There were meat products by the heaps on platters on every flat surface.

"How…?" Luna asked.

"Why…?" Jack continued.

"What the hell?" Mary finished.

"It was Hannah's idea," Mac pointed at her. Hannah's excitement quickly turned to fear.

"Uh...uh…Becky?" Hannah looked at her blonde friend, who was on the couch reading her business magazine.

"Asian Beavis and Black Butthead did it all," Becky replied in her usual monotone.

Both Mac and Hannah hung their heads in shame.

"Guys, relax," Zane spoke up. "I just haven't had the best day."

"We know," Hannah replied in a tiny voice, looking sad and mildly embarrassed. "I just thought it would be nice if we put a positive spin on it."

Zane looked at Hannah. A cute little Asian girl, 5'2" with tears welling up in her eyes. She was the baby of the group at only eighteen. Zane walked over to her and looked like he was going to hug her, but he hesitated. After a moment, he just placed his hand on her shoulder and stared into her big, green eyes.

"I really do appreciate it, Hannah," Zane comforted her. She looked at him with her big green eyes, swimming with tears. He continued, "I'm just tired and quite frankly…"

Zane suddenly rushed over to the food and starts scarfing it down. "So fucking hungry!"

Everyone is suddenly caught off-guard by this switch in mood. And then one by one, they start laughing.

"I knew he'd be hungry!" Hannah yelled in triumph. "Yes!"

Everyone started eating. They gathered around the dining table, the seven of them. Eating, talking, laughing, acting normal. Luna caught Zane looking distant.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He looked at her, her inquisitive eyes twinkled, seeing right through what he said then, "Nothing, I'm just worried about the hospital bill."

She just looked at him, until Jack started talking to her, pulling her attention away. Zane got up and walked outside to the balcony. He took a deep breath, apprehensive of what was about to come. As he started outside, he caught sight of a figure standing there. A tall blonde man, muscular and menacing. The man gestured Zane forward as a challenge and walked away.

Everything had changed.


	3. Chapter 3 - Poisonous

**Chapter 3 – Poisonous**

Around 4:30 a.m., when everyone in the house, even the hardcore night owls, had passed out and even the nocturnal animals had decided that it was too late to bother with the trash at this point.

Zane scampered through the living room, ducking in and out of corners, keeping out of the light coming in from the rainbow stained glass windows. He was carrying a knapsack filled with bare essentials. He got to the door, touched the doorknob, and suddenly heard a loud, disturbingly turbulent noise that made him jump, like the roar of a monster. He whipped around and realized that it was Mac, once again having fallen asleep on the couch. He sighed and waited a moment to let his heart and breathing rate come down.

He opened the door and yelped; Luna was standing right there with a mug of hot chocolate in her left hand and her phone in her right hand.

"Going somewhere, dear brother?" she asked, in her sassy, all-knowing way.

"Out," Zane replied, frustrated at the near-double-heart-attack he just suffered.

"Ooh, let's go," she immediately perked up. "There's some stuff I need. More toilet paper. And we're out of plastic water cups in the café. And…"

"Alone," Zane asserted.

"Where?"

"Places."

"Far away?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

Zane didn't say anything for a moment. He looked at his hands. They were cold and shaking. He could just imagine claws ripping out of his fingers and ripping through soft, warm flesh. What if it was Luna's flesh? His hands shook…until Luna put her hand into them and squeezed them.

"I don't want this," Zane whispered.

"I know."

"So you know why I have to go."

"Nope."

"What do you mean 'nope'?"

"I mean you don't have to go. We can deal with this."

"Luna, you have two options. Let me go or shoot me with a silver bullet."

"No, we have four options. There are two you mentioned, and if you mention them again, I will punch you, and two more options. We can do nothing or we can do something. We can take precautions."

"Precautions?"

"Yep."

"What, mark off days on a calendar? Work on self-control? Build a silver cage to contain my hairy ass?"

"There you go! You got ideas! Just like a woman on her period."

"I was being facetious."

"I am being serious. You need to let us help you. If you leave, you'll have no support and we'll be worried and mom will flip out."

"I really hate it when you're right."

Luna just smiled at him. "You are a very clever man. And you often make the mistake that other clever people make and that is assuming that you don't need people to take care of you because for some reason you've convinced yourself that you work better alone. Zane, you suck at being alone."

Zane was just silent for a while. Then he said in a small voice, "Can I get some hot chocolate too?"

Luna smiled at him and ruffled his hair. She got up, took his bag, and walked in. He followed her in. She made a mug for him. He started drinking it. She gave him a hug.

Suddenly, Mac grunted again and started sleep-talking, "I'll make sure Zane doesn't leave. I got this…"

"Your security sucks," Zane summed up.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail Opening 2)

I. sousa WE CAN DO IT! motto hatena darakede ikō

fushigi eno tobira wa me no mae ni aru

kono sekaijū ga WONDER LAND

bokura wa mō sudeni WONDER ringu

doki doki ga waku waku ni nattara WONDER furujan

jibuntte dare darō? riarutte nan darō?

ashita wa doushite mienain darō?

koukishin no bun dake leberu UP shiteku

kimi to boku no EVERYDAY sutetamon janai desho?  
oshiete Sense of Wonder

jinsei wa shugyou nari

dakara WE CAN MAKE IT motto hatena sagashi ni ikō

arifureta kotaeja gaman dekinai

mahō ni kakatta WONDER LIFE bokura no mirai wa WONDER ringu.

shitai koto shite ikiteru houga ganbarerujan

LET'S WONDERING!

II. That's right, we can do it! So what if life's full of mysteries?

The miraculous door is right before our eyes.

This entire world is a wonderland.

We're already wondering!

When anticipation turns into excitement,

it'll be wonderful, won't it?

Who am I? And what is real?

Why can't we see tomorrow?

The more curiosity, the more we achieve higher levels.

Our every day together is pretty fun, don't you think?

Tell me! Sense of Wonder.

Teach it!

Life is full of teachings!

So we can make it!

Let's go search for more mysteries!

I won't be satisfied with the typical answer.

A wonder life that's under a spell.

Our future is full of wonder!

It's better to live your life doing the things you like because then, you'll be able to work harder!

Let's wonder!

Let's Wondering!

III. Replace video with these shots:

Opening shots of the main 7 characters

Team shot

Logo

Examples of their powers

Funny moments

Past issues, Zane and Luna's family

Allies

Shot of the treehouse

Turns into Bolas' crypt in hell, silhouettes of villains, Tibalt reveal

Tibalt jumps up. Zane fights.

Zane vs. Tibalt. Other heroes vs. their villains.

Zane and Tibalt exchange explosive blows.

Logo

(Youtube music: Clara's Theme)

The next morning, Luna woke up at six so she could open her café at seven. She started by brushing her teeth with her Princess Bubblegum toothpaste, and then whipped up a quick breakfast for herself and her roommates, essentially functioning as the mother hen of the group. It was all within the first forty-five minutes of the day. Finally, the clock struck seven and she opened up shop as the morning coffee drinkers trickled in, itching for a latte and a friendly face. And faces didn't get much friendlier than Luna's face.

Zane made his way down to see his little sister. She never made him pay for anything, but he always paid anyway. Buying a muffin to go with Luna's lovely omelet, Zane sat by a window and slowly ate his food, deep in thought. There were no customers sitting in, except one person right behind Zane in a green hoodie.

Luna and Jack, who had been helping Luna with customers, came over to Zane's table and sat down.

"Okay," Luna says. "So we're going to Home Depot, all three of us. We're gonna get tools and materials. Becky is gonna get a load of silver for us to use. You need to stay away from that silver obviously, but we'll need your firepower to put it together."

"Put what together? What are you talking about?" Zane asked, confused and mildly irritated.

"The silver cage," Jack replied. "Your brilliant idea."

Zane looked at them incredulously. "That was a joke. I was being facetious. Do you two not know what facetious means?"

"Of course," Jack boasted.

"Use it in a sentence."

"Facetious. You were being facetious when you mentioned making a silver cage."

"I kinda hate you right now."

Jack shrugged at this.

"Anyways," Luna spoke up. "We're serious about this. Hannah said she was getting something too, but I don't know what. Mac made us a list of what we needed. And even Mary is coming by to help. And take it easy on her, she feels really bad for what happened to you."

"Why?" Zane asked.

"Why what?" Luna asked.

"Why are you doing this?" Zane countered.

"Because we need to take precaution. Not just for you, but for the Alpha that bit you. He's still out there and he's even more dangerous to us," Luna explained.

"I know," Zane replied. "Which is why I was leaving last night, before you so kindly accosted and persuaded me to do the opposite. And I listened, probably because I figured we may be able to pull up a plan that goes beyond 'silver cage.'"

"And we will, but can we at least start with the silver cage? C'mon, Home Depot!" Luna stood up dramatically and walked off. Zane looked at Jack.

"You're not gonna win this argument," Jack whispered.

"Well, you're never gonna win any argument," Zane replied.

"One day," Jack whispered, with a manic look in his eyes.

Back in the treehouse living room, Mac was in the process of taking inventory of the tools and supplies in the whole house. Helping him out were a couple of Gargoyle Sentinels, flying around and adding supplies to a large but organized collection on the coffee table.

(See card: Gargoyle Sentinel)

A knock on the door broke Mac's concentration. He walked to the door and opened to reveal a large pot with a large, tall plant with bright purple flowers.

"Hello…plant thing…?" Mac mused.

"Hello!" the plant spoke in Hannah's voice.

"Get out of the way or get hit by briefcases full of metal," the plant changed to Becky's voice.

Mac moved out of the way to let them in. Hannah walked in cheerfully, carrying the pot with the flower. Mac, being a gentleman, took the pot from her and placed in on the coffee table in the middle of the room, exerting more effort than he expected to while carrying it. Clearly, Hannah had an easier time with the big clay pot.

Becky walked in and motioned towards the door to herald a pair of men dressed in black suits to walk in carrying very large, armored briefcases.

"Wait, why are they here!?" Mac exclaimed.

"What, did you expect me to bring in a metric ton of silver by myself?" Becky asked. "Just put em over in the living room."

Mac looked over at the gargoyles in a panic, terrified that the normal, non-magical humans may see the existence of magic and freak out. But the men walked in, placed the cases down with the rest of the tools, and walked out due to the fact that the gargoyles had assumed a still statue-like position, blending in as exotic decoration.

"My boys are so smart…," Mac squealed in a proud, teary-eyed moment.

"Unlike you," Becky retorted.

"Bitch," Mac mumbled.

"Slacker," Becky mumbled back.

"Okay, okay! Everybody relax and let's try to get along until Luna and her boys get back with the supplies." Hannah broke up the argument.

Mac returned to rummaging for tools. Becky directed the men around until they had brought in about twenty-five cases.

"Wow," Mac looked around at the landscape of cases. "You weren't kidding when you said 'metric ton', were you?"

"No, I wasn't," Becky replied. "And it cost about more than $1.2 million bucks, so let's not waste it."

"How much money do you actually make, Becky?" Hannah asked.

"Think about the most expensive thing you've ever bought," Becky answered. "I could buy every copy of that thing and the factory that made it."

"But what would you do with a sex toy factory?" Mac asked. Becky and Hannah just looked at him oddly. He took this as a sign to shut up.

At this moment, Mary walked in and looked around. "Is this all full of silver?" she asked.

"Enough silver to buy a sex toy factory," Mac summed up. Mary didn't know what to make of that statement.

"The other three have left to get some rods and tools and stuff from Home Depot," Hannah changed the subject.

"Okay," Mary replied, putting down her purse and a bag full of food. "What do we do until then?"

"How about strip Twister?" Mac offered.

This earned Mac a pillow in the face from each of the girls.

As the trio of Zane, Luna, and Jack pulled into the Home Depot parking lot, Luna went over the list of stuff they needed.

"And please," she implored, after finishing the list. "Watch the prices. We're nearing broke anyway. We're so lucky Becky could get silver for us. And we'll need a lot to really cover a cage thoroughly."

"Silver is soft, so we'll need rods of a stronger metal in the middle of the silver rods to give it integrity," Zane specified. "Assuming we need stainless steel and we'll just transmute it to Darksteel, and the cage will be roughly the size of a shark cage, we need a good half-ton of it, that's about $44,000."

"Army discount…?" Jack asked, nervously.

"Five hundred max," Zane replied, resigned to the worst.

"We'll figure it out," Luna sighed. "We always do. And if we have to, we'll steal it."

Zane and Jack looked at her in surprise.

"Joking!" she exclaimed.

"I still like the idea of going to a junkyard to deal with this," Jack mumbled, annoyed.

"We can't," Zane explained. "We need metal that is as clean and pure as it can get. Junkyards are dirty and we need a lot of the same metal. We don't know if we'll find enough good material in a junkyard."

"But it's like…whatever $44,000 minus five hundred is!"

"$43,500. Or $14,500 for each of us, if that makes you feel better."

"It doesn't. Why can't we just get Darksteel instead from wherever?"

"I can only bring out artifacts that are already made. Darksteel can't be melted or destroyed when finished. We'll have to transmute or create it. Do you know how to create Darksteel, Jack?"

Jack just shrugs.

"Allons-y then!"

The three of them nervously made their way inside. As soon as they got inside, Zane smelled something peculiar. He stopped and sniffed, looking around the almost empty store. The other two were confused by this behavior.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

"Nothing," Zane replied. "Someone spilled a lot of ammonia. Makes it difficult to smell much of anything. Even with my nose."

Zane sniffed around, looking worried.

"What do you smell?" Jack asked.

"Not sure," Zane replied. "A lot. Hmmm…Let's go."

They walked down to the aisle with the stainless steel rods.

"Do they even have a half-ton of stainless steel rods?" Luna asked.

"We can hit up multiple stores," Zane replied, still distracted by sensory disturbances. "What is wrong with the ventilation in this store? Or is it ventilation?"

"What's wrong? You're unnecessarily edgy today," Luna said, concerned and off-put by her brother's above-normal eccentricity. Jack, at this moment, is filling up carts with steel rods.

"Three questions. One, why is the airflow in the room off? I can sense that disturbance. It's like a weird displaced weight in the room. Two, why hasn't anyone cleaned up the ammonia?"

At this point, even Luna and Jack are uncomfortable with the remarkably empty and strange store.

"What's question three?" Luna asked, in a low and wary voice.

"What's wrong with the people?" Zane said and walked over to a customer checking out the rods as well. The man is hunched over and pale. But he isn't doing anything.

Luna looked the man over. "He's not moving, or really looking at the rods, or…"

"Breathing," Jack finished.

"None of them are breathing," Zane confirmed. "Which means these people are dead. The lack of ventilation is because there's no people to facilitate the flow with their breathing. Also, the ammonia covers the scent."

"So who would fill a store with zombies and try to cover the scent and why?" Luna inquired.

"No idea," Zane mused. "But…maybe…this will help us know…"

Zane poked the man a tad too hard, and he fell over practically breaking apart, releasing…a crap ton of hornets!

(See card: Hornet's Nest)

"Run!" Jack yelled and the three of them hightailed it out of there, pushing the carts of steel rods.

They find their way outside, unimpeded until they got outside and found themselves face-to-face with a massive pale, revolting insect. Its many pale eyes followed the three of them hungrily.

(See card: Gleancrawler)

"Maybe if we don't move a muscle, the Gleancrawler won't see us," Jack whispered.

Suddenly, the Gleancrawler swung at them. They pushed their carts forward and themselves back, barely dodging the strike.

"It's not a fucking T-Rex, Jack!" Zane yelled.

"We need to fight back!" Luna yelled back, dodging another haphazard strike.

"Hold it off and equip yourselves!" Zane shouted.

"On it!" Jack answered and activated a spell. A column of light fell from the sky and encased the Gleancrawler. The big bug couldn't move, trapped and bedazzled by the light.

(See card: Harmless Assault)

At that moment, the three of them decided to go all out with the equipment and enchantments.

Jack donned a plate armor cloak with a thick, scaly helmet. He brought out an enchanted golden bow of a goddess and a big leather quiver loaded with deadly arrows. Suddenly, massive angel wings appeared on his back.

(See card: Armadillo Cloak)

(See card: Bow of Nylea)

(See card: Call to Serve)

Luna gave herself a shining set of armor along with a gorgeous pair of angelic wings and a long angelic sword. A shining blue mask covered her face.

(See card: Ethereal Armor)

(See card: Angelic Destiny)

(See card: Auramancer's Guise)

"Green and black, huh?" Zane said with a smile.

Zane sank into the ground until he was knee-deep in his hammerspace dimension. He reached into the hammerspace and pulled something out, rising as he did. He was wearing a pair of golden greaves on his feet, shining and cackling with electricity. He was carrying a shield that he immediately slung onto his back. Massive wings popped out of the shield allowing him to stand like an angel with his friends. He was carrying a hatchet in one hand and a double-bladed sword, one blade glowing with green life energy and the other pulsing with dark energy, in the other hand.

(See card: Lightning Greaves)

(See card: Angelic Armaments)

(See card: Sword of Feast and Famine)

"Now?" Luna asked.

"Wait for it…," Jack whispered.

The column of light flickered and the Gleancrawler moved one eyeball towards the three.

"Now!" Zane yelled as he burst off the ground, flying at lightning speed. The Gleancrawler took a swing at him, but Zane parried it with his sword, its protective powers saving Zane from the Gleancrawler's brand of magic. Luna slashed the Gleancrawler in one of its eyes. Zane took the other one, the green powers of the sword flooding him with excess strength. The two sword-wielding siblings kept the Gleancrawler in place as it tried to thrash around but found the combine augmented power of Zane and Luna too much to overcome.

"Jack, now!" Zane yelled.

Jack shot up into the air, began glowing with green energy, and fired an arrow at the Gleancrawler. A single arrow ruptured the creature's head and it blew up as a mass of gooey insectoid innards and slop.

"And that smell will never wash out of my hair," Luna complained.

"Is that it?" Jack asked, looking around.

"No, we beat that. But it didn't kill and stuff a bunch of people with hornets," Zane replied. "Smells familiar. Was it hard? Getting hornets in there without getting stung?"

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

Luna and Jack looked around, trying to see who Zane was talking to. Clearly, he smelled someone they didn't see. Suddenly, a tall, silver-haired lady rose out of the ground: Young and sensuous, with all the right curves in all the right places. She had cold green eyes, tan skin adorned with a blood red tattoo of a spider on her lower abdomen. She had squeezed herself into a green blouse that left little to the imagination and skinny black jeans that glistened and moved with her legs like snakeskin. Brown boots finished her outfit.

"Clever puppy," the lady goaded Zane while holding a green-nailed finger to her lips. "Tibalt will be proud of his creation."

"Tibalt," Zane repeated. "That's the bastard that bit me."

"Who are you?" Luna asked.

"Oh, dear, what a cutie you are and hiding behind that ridiculous mask! Luna, my dear, you have to accessorize better. After all, this is for my pleasure."

Luna immediately felt a shiver go down her spine at the lady's honeyed voice.

"Hey, lady," Jack yelled, assertively. "She asked you a question! Who the hell are you?"

The lady immediately looked annoyed at Jack and launched a massive punch at him, extending her arm like a rubber band. Jack blocked it with his Armadillo Cloak.

(See card: Savage Punch)

Luna flew over to her. The lady suddenly had a sinister smile on her face. Her fingernails grew into rotten wood nails. Luna parried back and forth with her sword against the wooden nails.

(See card: Claws of Wirewood)

Suddenly, Luna backed off. The lady looked surprised at this but then realized what was going on. She turned around and faced Zane who immediately blasted her with a wave of fire from his mouth, leaving her charred and looking angry.

(See card: Fireball)

"You… dare…?" she croaked.

"Hey, you send a swarm at us, I send fire at you. Call us even," Zane mused.

The lady smiled in a psychotic way. Suddenly, her spider tattoo started glowing green as her skin, muscles, and everything reformed, making her just as she was before Zane's attack.

(See card: Golgari Signet)

"That's unfortunate," Zane muttered in an undertone. The lady shot the rotting wood out of her nails like a never-ending barrage of bullets. Zane parried them with his Feast and Famine sword.

"I think it's time to call another friend," the lady cooed in a creepy way. "GOOOOO!"

Suddenly, the earth shook as a massive wurm (that's wurm with U, not worm with O, a massive limb-less, wing-less, all-hell-breaks-loose, descendant of an earthbound dragon that evolution decided to favor over anything else in the forest) shot out of the ground (actually through the store) with a roar, destroying the store completely. Its outer teeth parted to reveal circular rows upon rows of sharp teeth and the remnants of a millennium's worth of lunches covered in acidic saliva.

(See card: Worldspine Wurm)

"Well…," Jack started.

"That's…," Luna continued.

"Fuck," Zane finished.

"Meet my Worldspine Wurm!" Tamara proclaimed triumphantly. "You wanted to know who I am? I am Tamara Titus. And I am your last temptation, dear Luna."

"What? What do you want with me?" Luna asked.

Tamara laughed at this and pounced at Luna, who shot up and continued her sword against nails battle with Tamara.

"Need help?" Jack yelled.

"Kill the wurm!" Luna yelled back.

"On it!" Jack ran towards the wurm.

"Wait, no! Don't kill the wurm!" Zane yelled in response. "Wait!"

Jack activated his one-shot superpower and grew to the size of the wurm. He grabbed the squealing and screeching wurm and tore it in half. The halves of the wurm lay limp on the ground. Jack shrank back to normal.

(See card: Titanic Growth)

Tamara began laughing at this. Zane facepalmed. Jack looked confused.

"Wait…why shouldn't I have killed it?" Jack asked.

Suddenly, the wurm pieces began writhing around. They seemed like they were growing, but then a wurm came out of each one. A smaller wurm in comparison to their parent, but still as large as a house. The pieces fused together to form another wurm. The big wurm had replaced itself with triplets. Jack stared at them with a facial expression of someone asked to clean a palace with a toothbrush.

"That's why," Zane sighed. "No worries, we can do this!"

Luna landed next to the two of them.

"We may need some help," Luna whispered.

"Then let's get some," Jack spoke up, confident, even in face of his tactical snafu.

"Ready?" Zane asked.

"Ready!" Luna and Jack answered.

The three of them kneeled down, placing their weapons in front of themselves like knights.

"What? What are you, praying?" Tamara demanded.

(Youtube: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

"By the heavenly host of the herons," Jack started. "SIGARDA!"

"By the holy light of alabaster," Luna continued. "BRUNA!"

"By the righteous blade of the golden night," Zane finished. "GISELA!"

Suddenly, three columns of light burst down from the sky and hit the three of them. Zane was flooded with red light, Luna with blue, and Jack with green. Tamara was awestruck and terrified to her very soul by this. Forms appeared in the columns of heavenly light. The light dissipated, revealing three beautiful and powerful angels. Behind Jack, a blonde angel with a heron-shaped scythe and silver armor. Sigarda had a stern but calm expression on her face. Behind Luna, a brunette angel with a staff and ribbon-like streaming robes. Bruna had a serene expression on her face. Behind Zane, a redheaded angel with four swords, two in hands, two in scabbards, leather and gold armor. Gisela had a fierce expression on her face.

(See card: Sigarda, Host of Herons)

(See card: Bruna, Light of Alabaster)

(See card: Gisela, Blade of Goldnight)

"I really hate angels," Tamara squeaked in fear.

"Let's rock!" Zane commanded. The angels and their summoners shot into battle.

Jack and Sigarda flew around the wurm, who spat saliva at them.

"Sigarda, the usual plan. Slash and slam!" Jack ordered.

"Roger, sir!" Sigarda agreed.

Sigarda swung her scythe-like a helicopter to deflect it. Jack punched the wurm. As the wurm reeled from the hit, Jack grabbed it like it was a tree trunk and he was a psychotic hippie intent on hugging the hell out it. Sigarda sliced the wurm's head off. Jack took the head, flew up, and slammed it into the body, shoving the entire wurm many feet into the ground with an earth-shaking slam.

Luna and Bruna, or LuBruna, deflected the machine gun-like spit barrage of their wurm with expert defensive tactics.

"Would you like a boost, Luna?" Bruna asked.

"Hit me, girl!" Luna winked back.

Bruna began shining, gathering power from Luna's enchantments on herself as well as her own. Bruna then transferred that power to Luna, granting her an incredible boost. Luna used all the power to slash the wurm in half. The wurm exploded from the point of impact with the sword.

(See card: Aura Finesse)

"Will you fight like a man already? And why do you give the same aura as a werewolf? Where the hell have you been, young man?" Gisela yelled at Zane, and she parried the last wurm's lunges.

"Get off my case! And it's a long story!" Zane yelled back, running around at top speed, stabbing at the wurm from different angles.

Gisela stabbed the wurm in the mouth and launched it up using her sword and brute strength. The wurm flew up and landed painfully on the ground. Suddenly, buzzing filled the air. The hornets from before had returned, even bigger than usual. Their leader, however, was even bigger.

(See card: Hornet Queen)

But this made Zane smile.

"Big mistake," Zane announced.

"Excuse me?" Tamara asked, annoyed.

"Everyone has a superpower. Jack has strength for short bursts. Luna can protect herself if she's on her toes. As for me, let's just say, the more I face, the better I get."

Zane shot into the swarm, glowing with incredible power and cackling like mad with electricity. He burst through the queen and rammed all the hornets, zooming around with his winged shield, greaves, and protective weapons, until there was a pile of ash on the ground. He looked at Gisela, who was finished with the wurm.

(See card: Thunderous Wrath)

"You smell despicable, you mutt," she chided. "Take a bath once in a while!"

"Oh, you are not my mother!" Zane replied and turned around to face…no one. "Wait, where'd Tamara go?"

All six of them were immediately on alert at this. But no one saw Tamara suddenly pop out of the shadows behind Luna and touch the back of her head. Luna gasped and passed out. Tamara dissipated into shadows.

(See card: Syphon Mind)

"NO!" Jack yelled and ran to catch just before she hit the ground.

The others got there and stared worriedly. The angels began scanning her.

"She's alive, just confused and in mental shock from the spell," Sigarda confirmed.

"Oh, Luna, I'm sorry we didn't see her!" Bruna whined, looked sad.

Gisela smacked Zane on the back of his head. "Nice going, you fool! You call yourself her brother and you couldn't even protect her!"

"Get off my case and go home already!" Zane yelled back and waved his arm to dismiss her. Gisela just humphed and dissipated into red light particles that floated upwards. Bruna and Sigarda followed suit, blue and green respectively. Suddenly, they heard sirens.

"Aw, crap! Run!" Zane yelled. Zane grabbed Luna and swung her over his shoulder. Jack, being stronger of the three, grabbed all three carts of stainless steel and quickly filled the truck up with them. They got in and bailed before the cops and emergency vehicles arrived, clearly very late.

"So we actually stole them," Jack summed up.

Both guys look at each other and just shrugged.

Meanwhile, Luna was in mental shock and having nightmares…of bodies…of screaming…fire…whips…death…heat…so much heat…and she woke up.

Luna was on the couch in her living room with Zane and Jack staring at her worriedly. Becky was behind her, using her hands, glowing with blue magic, to scan Luna's brain.

"What happened?" Luna asked, groggily.

"Syphon Mind spell," Zane answered. "You were sorta sweaty and delirious for a few hours. Becky went through your head and eventually got the effects of the spell out."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody anything secret I found. However, you and I need to have a talk eventually, if you know what I mean," Becky said in her usual drone. Then she got up, patted Luna on the head, and left. Luna just looked dumbstruck and mildly embarrassed about this. She looked at Zane and Jack, who immediately looked away. Luna just buried her face in her hands.

(See card: Telepathy)

Jack had covered for Luna at the café along with Marcia during the time Luna was recuperating. The rest of them had worked on the cage. Zane and Mary used a combination of smelting and transmutation to transform the stolen steel into Darksteel. Then they melted the silver. Mac and Hannah covered the cage with silver and Hannah and Mary used their Pyromantic powers to weld the finished rods into a cage and gave it sharp thorns. The bottom of the cage was a reverse, silver on the inside, Darksteel on the outside so that the captive could stand but couldn't dig through if by some chance, they broke through the indestructible Darksteel.

(See card: Smelt)

(See card: Transmute Artifact)

"Gives the cage a nice painful edge, if you know what I mean," Mary beamed, quite happy with her work.

"Yeah…great," Zane replied. "I needed more pain in my life."

"Oh, my God, I'm sorry," Mary immediately said. "I…I…was thinking of the other werewolf…"

"Tibalt."

"Tibalt? Yes, him. I'm sorry!"

"It's fine. I'll need an incentive to stay in."

Mary looks at him with a worried expression. She hugs him, catching him by surprise.

"Hey," he whispered. "You okay?"

"Mmm-hmm. You?"

"I'm all right."

"Is 'all right' like werewolf code for not all right at all?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm all right too."

Zane sighed and hugged her. They let go. She pokes his nose.

"Boop." He was both confused and amused. She was blushing. He was clueless.

Once Luna was feeling better that evening and the café had closed for the night, all seven of them walked down to the root cellar of the treehouse base through a special entrance. A spell covered a secret entrance in the front yard of the base. A large slab of earth parted into two, opening the secret entrance and revealing a flight of stairs, which led to the root cellar. There awaited a fifteen-foot tall cage, shining silver with spiked bars. The Darksteel core and floor gave it a golden cackling glow. But the most disturbing detail was one that made Zane immediately feel sick and walk away. Hannah had taken the liberty of covering the cage with a draping of wolfsbane.

"Wolfsbane. _Aconitum napellus_. That explains why you carried a big purple plant in here," Mac confirmed. "How did you get that, Hannah?"

"Placed a special overnight order and had it shipped here from Britain," Hannah replied. "Daddy's got some connections. I know you don't like it, Zane. But it keeps werewolves in. And it's clearly effective. Am I right?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna vomit soon," Zane confirmed.

At this sentiment, everyone left the room and celebrated a good day. Zane, Luna, and Jack filled everyone in on the new threat.

"Tibalt and Tamara, and they know each other," Mary wondered out loud. "I'll have to do some work back at HQ on them tomorrow. Please keep me posted and the next time you see one of these bozos, please call me."

"You got it," Luna agreed.

"What do they want with the blanks?" Becky asked.

Everyone looked over at the coffee table. The seven blank cards lay there since they were placed there a few days ago by an angry Zane.

"We need answers," Jack spoke up.

"How did she know we'd be at the Home Depot?" Luna asked.

"Tibalt knows where we live. Wouldn't be hard to listen and…," Zane realizes it. "Oh!"

"What?" Luna asked.

"There was a lady in a green hoodie in the café this morning. I was wondering why Tamara smelled familiar," Zane sighed.

"Mary," Zane turned to her. "Can you find Hannibal Hogan?"

"That name sounds familiar," Mary replied.

"He's the owner of the shop where we met Tibalt," Luna remembered. "He gave Zane those cards."

"I'll help too," Mac offered. "He's gotta have records. The smelly bastard bought cigarettes and booze on a regular basis. His bank statements alone will yield some sorta pattern, no matter where he is."

"Good plan," Hannah said. "What can I do?"

"That wolfsbane," Luna asked Hannah. "How much do you have left?"

"Another pot of it. Why?" Hannah answered.

"What are you planning?" Zane asked his sister, immediately suspicious of her motives.

"What?" Luna asked back with a cute smile.

"You're planning something," Zane smiled back and tickled her nose.

"No!" Luna denied, pushing his finger away. "I just figured we could place wolfsbane around the house. It could help."

"Sure, sure, it could help," Zane looked around and then snapped back to her. "Or it could kill me!"

"Not if we immunized you," Luna said with a sassy smartass smile.

"You're nuts," Zane said. Luna looked sad because she loved her idea and honestly believed it would work. "And that's why I love you!"

Zane hugged Luna. She just smiled and rolled her eyes. She saw Mary looking at them with a smile.

"What?" Luna asked her.

"You guys are really lucky to have each other," Mary said. "I never had siblings."

"Well, you got us, too!" Luna said.

"You're on the team, too, Detective-Inspector Eats-a-lot," Zane confirmed.

This led to a round of joking and light bullying as the team of seven goofed off and laughed the night away.


	4. Chapter 4 - Escalate

**Chapter 4 - Escalate**

Mary's slender and nimble fingers tapped furiously and rapidly on the keyboard of her office computer as her gaze wavered only slightly from one side of the screen to the other. Information popped up and down as windows were opened, scrolled through, and closed at incredible speed.

(See card: Rush of Knowledge)

Mac had delivered copious volumes of information on Hannibal's shopping activities in the past. Mary was using that information to create a thorough pattern of his behavior to possibly locate him. She felt she owed this to the team. Her heart felt heavy as she remembered that her need for a good detective is what put Zane in the path of Tibalt's fangs.

As she lost herself in her work, thinking a million thoughts at once, time and space fell away around her…until something grabbed her shoulder from the back! She screamed, jumped off her office chair, and got into an offensive stance…only to face her father.

"Dad! What the hell!?" Mary gasped, relaxing a bit, but still feeling her heart thumping through her ribs.

Her father just chuckled. He was a large, very muscular man with very pale skin. He had very white hair and icy blue eyes. He was dressed in a white suit with a blue vest and no tie. A name tag hanging off his pocket read:

 **PLANAR-SPATIAL MAGICAL POLICE**

 **Commissioner of Police**

 **SOUL, CALIBOS M.**

"Sorry, kiddo," Calibos chuckled. "Just wanted your attention on a matter. I just feel like you might be overwhelmed lately, what with the staying up late and clearly doing more work than is asked of one person. So, I decided it was time for you to have a partner."

"A par…huh! S-sorry! What? A partner! What? That's so out of left field, dad! And not at all inconvenient! Why, uh, why do I need a partner?"

"Because of your workload. No doubt, your record for solving cases is unparalleled, but your investigations take up so much of your time. I feel like we don't have any family time anymore. Even since your mother died…"

"I know, dad…," Mary shifted guiltily. "Okay, let's go meet this partner."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You good for this?"

"I'm good. What sorta partner is this?"

"Walk with me."

They left Mary's office and walked down the hallway. The hallways were decorated like a hospital: off-white and seemingly sterile.

"Okay, dad, really, what kinda partner?"

"He's not from around here but he's a quick learner. A veteran hunter."

"A hunter of what?"

Mary's was distracted immediately when they came upon what resembled a high-tech elevator in a room located at end of the hallway. Off to the side, a small desk served as a workspace for an apparently zoned-out secretary typing away on her keyboard.

"Are we going down?" Mary asked, curious and confused. "He's not in your office?"

"He likes diners," Calibos answered with a smile.

The two of them stepped into the elevator and descended. Once the elevator stopped, they found themselves in a very small space with a screen, buttons, and a credit card slot. A shopping mall photo booth. Five flashes occurred and they exited.

"You know, we really oughta find a new exit point," Mary complained. "It looks weird when I regularly exit this booth. Often with different men. People are gonna start thinking I'm a slut."

"It's a commonly frequented spot," Calibos replied. "Nobody even remembers seeing you!"

"Hey, baby! Why don't you leave Gramps and take a pic with me!?" A random man yelled at Mary. Mary held out her hand in a "You see?" sort of way and walked off. Her father took a pair of photo strips out of the slot and looked at them. His eyes were pale and gray and his face looked gaunt, gray, and almost morbid. Mary just looked annoyed and disoriented. He smiled, looked around at Mary walking away, and tucked the photos away.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail Opening 2

I. sousa WE CAN DO IT! motto hatena darakede ikō

fushigi eno tobira wa me no mae ni aru

kono sekaijū ga WONDER LAND

bokura wa mō sudeni WONDER ringu

doki doki ga waku waku ni nattara WONDER furujan

jibuntte dare darō? riarutte nan darō?

ashita wa doushite mienain darō?

koukishin no bun dake leberu UP shiteku

kimi to boku no EVERYDAY sutetamon janai desho?  
oshiete Sense of Wonder

jinsei wa shugyou nari

dakara WE CAN MAKE IT motto hatena sagashi ni ikō

arifureta kotaeja gaman dekinai

mahō ni kakatta WONDER LIFE bokura no mirai wa WONDER ringu.

shitai koto shite ikiteru houga ganbarerujan

LET'S WONDERING!

II. That's right, we can do it! So what if life's full of mysteries?

The miraculous door is right before our eyes.

This entire world is a wonderland.

We're already wondering!

When anticipation turns into excitement,

it'll be wonderful, won't it?

Who am I? And what is real?

Why can't we see tomorrow?

The more curiosity, the more we achieve higher levels.

Our everyday together is pretty fun, don't you think?

Tell me! Sense of Wonder.

Teach it!

Life is full of teachings!

So we can make it!

Let's go search for more mysteries!

I won't be satisfied with the typical answer.

A wonder life that's under a spell.

Our future is full of wonder!

It's better to live your life doing the things you like, because then, you'll be able to work harder!

Let's wonder!

Let's Wondering!

III. Replace video with these shots:

Opening shots of the main 7 characters

Team shot

Logo

Examples of their powers

Funny moments

Past issues, Zane and Luna's family

Allies

Shot of the treehouse

Turns into Bolas' crypt in hell, silhouettes of villains, Tibalt reveal

Tibalt jumps up. Zane fights.

Zane vs. Tibalt. Other heroes vs. their villains.

Zane and Tibalt exchange explosive blows.

Logo

They traveled to a nearby diner and took a booth. A portly, kind-looking waitress came around.

"Father-daughter lunch? How nice! What can I get you dearies?" the waitress asked in her cheery sing-song voice.

"A meat platter for me with an extra side of sausage and bacon please," Calibos ordered. "And make it very rare, along with some coffee. Thank you."

"That's a lotta meat!" the lady chuckled, clearly surprised. Then she looked over at Mary. "How 'bout you, dear?"

"Daily special please with fries and a coke," Mary replied. The lady nodded and waddled away. "That _is_ a lot of meat, dad. How about some veggies?"

Calibos just smiled and ignored Mary's comment.

"So," Mary started, changing the subject. "About this partner…where is he?"

Calibos looked out the window to his left. "He's here."

Mary looked to her right and saw something that she amazingly missed.

(Youtube music: Hell's Bells)

It had snuck in a parking spot right in front of her and parked. It was a massive, gray, steel motorcycle that resembled a tank. It even had a barrel. A strange combination of a Russian T-90 and a motorcycle, resulting in a hostile-looking version of the Batmobile from the recent Batman movies. But the thing of interest was the massive leather-clad man on top. He got off the bike and took off his helmet. He was 6'3" with broad shoulders. White-blond hair. She couldn't see his face as it was covered by circular, red-lensed goggles and a black leather mask over his nose and mouth. He wore a long leather coat with spiked shoulders. Black and silver. Everything he wore was black and silver. He walked in and stood right in front of Mary and Calibos in a steady military pose. He took off his goggles and mask to reveal a middle-aged worn face with piercing blue eyes and a stubble.

"Argus Actaeon Silver, pleasure to meet you, Miss Soul," he spoke in a deep and gravelly voice. He took off his gloves and held out his XXL sized hand. Mary shook it with her rather small and slender hand, feeling rather small and crushable.

Argus pulled over a loose chair from another table and sat down. The waitress brought over Calibos' insane amount of meat and Mary's burger special with fries and coke. She turned to Argus and smiled, "Hello, honey, back again today! You need anything?"

"Yes, please, a breakfast platter with extra sausage please and the tea of the day," Argus replied.

"The usual!" she announced and left.

"Tell her about your resume, Argus," Calibos advised.

Argus smiled. "Gladly. I have extensive military training with the U.S. Marines, retired at Master Sergeant, company Echo-2-1. Trained marksman, detective, and hunter."

"Yeah, about that...," Mary brought them back to an earlier subject. "What do you hunt?"

Argus pulled his coat tail aside to reveal a holster carrying a large antique-looking, silver gun. "Werewolves."

Mary suddenly felt as if the ground collapsed underneath her and her chest had compacted around her heart and lungs.

Shit.

On a cold Saturday morning, a hyperactive sixteen-year-old led his reluctant girlfriend towards an interesting little area at 7560 Wit's End Way, otherwise known to the locals as the Spirit Tree. A centuries-old gnarled-up oak tree stood sentinel in the middle of a clearing behind Angel Star Café. But there was nothing apparently amazing about it. And no one around it.

"C'mon, Mike! This is stupid! I feel stupid for being here!" the girlfriend yelled.

"Relax, Margo!" Mike yelled back. "It's something I've wanted to see. Everyone passes by this tree, yet no one that I've talked to has ever been near it. No one's even touched it. I wanna see why. I might be setting some sorta record here."

"This is stupid," Margo groaned, shivering while rubbing her arms, clearly not a fan of the cold. "Let's just go the café and get some muffins. If we go before ten, we can get the early ones. The ones with extra chocolate chips."

"Gimme a minute!" Mike yelled back. "How often do you get to see a haunted tree?"

Mike walked towards the tree with anticipation on his face. But as he got to the threshold between the sidewalk and the mud and leaves, his face went slack. He blinked twice and turned around.

"Okay, yeah, let's go…," he mumbled.

"What?"

"What?" Mike turned around.

"You wanted to touch that tree and now you don't. That's astonishingly compliant of you."

"Oh, yeah! The tree!" He turned back around and tried to walk towards the tree again, but…his face went slack again.

"Let's go," he mumbled.

"Oh, my God, if you're that scared of ghosts, I'll go with you!" Margo announced and tried to walk towards the tree, but suddenly, her face went slack.

On the mud-and-leaves side of the threshold, a single man named Zane Hunter stood with a mug of hot chocolate and a smile of amusement at the confused bewilderment of the couple standing a foot away from him. But the triplicate layer of barriers hid not only him, but the treehouse behind him.

(See card: Dissipation Field)

(See card: Fog Bank)

(See card: Dissipation Field)

The couple walked off, confused and mildly annoyed. Zane smiled and smelled the morning air.

"This city smells like crap," he announced and walked back in.

Zane walked into his home, took a plate of egg and steak and walked to the elevator, taking it down to Luna's café. He paid a buck fifty for a chocolate chunk muffin and sat down with his meal. He scooped up a big forkful of his protein-loaded meal and prepared to eat when suddenly…a shot glass of purple sludge was placed next to him.

(Youtube music: Clara's Theme)

Luna was looking at him with a forced smile carrying a hint of sympathy. "Wolfsbane shake. With whey protein and a lot of honey. Literally two bottles of honey into the whole batch I have upstairs. I'm so sorry for how this is will taste."

"I'm more concerned with the smell. You know you basically created Glade's Dead Plants and Dried Shit collection with this?"

"Hey, I'm trying to create an immunity within you. If you're immune to wolfsbane and Tibalt isn't, you have a huge edge against him. So please? Try it? For me?"

"Oh, don't gimme the 'for me' crap! I…I…"

"Pleeeeease?" Luna pleaded with her hands held together as she swayed from side to side.

Zane found himself faltering as Luna began batting her puppy dog eyes. Massive, reflective, greenish-hazel eyes staring into his soul, lighting up the dark and forgotten corners of it.

"Fine! God! Fine! That is not fair! Can I at least finish my meal?"

"Okay!" Luna ruffled his hair and went back to work. Zane finished his meal and then turned his attention to the shot glass of venom. He shuddered. Luna came over and sat down. Then Mac sat down as well.

"What brings you here from your perpetual slumber?" Zane asked.

"The idea of you vomiting purple goo sorta excites me," Mac answered.

"Hey, the point isn't to vomit. The point is to immunize," Luna countered. "Zane, please."

Zane picked up the glass. The smell alone was turning him pale. His heartbeat began pounding. "Doesn't look so bad. Through the teeth, over the gums, look out stomach, here death comes."

(cut music to)

(See card: Crawlspace - Two Steps From Hell)

Zane swung it in one, slammed the glass down, and doubled over. His insides were on fire. Pain boiled through his veins. Through narrowed eyes, he could see his veins pulsing and bulging a bluish-purple color and his skin turning pale.

Luna and Mac looked at each other in worry as Zane began shaking and sweating profusely. Suddenly, tufts of dark hair began erupting from his jawline and hands. His hands, gripped tight to the edge of the table, white-knuckled, began tensing up, as his fingers began bleeding and growing claws.

"Okay, um," Luna whispered. "Maybe we should've done this inside."

"Ya think?" Mac whispered back. "Zane? Bro? You okay?"

Zane took deep breaths and eventually, the claws retracted, leaving blood on his human nails. The hair disappeared. He calmed down as the color of his skin returned and his veins stopped bulging. People were staring at them.

"It's not the food, people!" Luna assured them. "Just some questionable medicine!"

People went back to their business, occasionally looking over at the trio.

"Thank God," Luna whispered, feeling a tad guilty.

"Dude…?" Mac asked, cautiously.

Zane sits up, still sweaty. "Okay, I was wrong. But on the bright side, one down, a million more to go."

"How do you feel?" Luna asked, her wary voice coming out small and squeaky.

"Uh…," Zane struggled for a response as his stomach suddenly gave an almighty rumble. "Uh-oh…"

Zane got up and ran outside. He immediately projectile vomited into the street, spewing purple chunks into an oncoming car's windshield, sending the poor bastard swerving into an intersecting street that he didn't mean to go down. As the car disappeared, Zane heard a crash. Oops.

The people in the café all looked at him and then at Luna for an explanation. Luna showed them the smelly shot glass.

"Really questionable medicine!" Luna announced with a hopefully winning smile.

While Luna and Mac tried to facilitate the issue outside with the car accident, Zane tried to recompose himself. As he coughed and wretched out mini-pukes, a delivery truck pulled up to him. A short, portly man wearing a khaki uniform and a baseball cap stepped out with a bottle of water and walked to him.

"Mr. Hunter, you okay?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just really don't like plants," Zane groaned. The delivery man handed him the bottle. "Thanks, Julio."

Zane drank the bottle dry.

"Was it magic mushrooms?" Julio whispered. "I don't judge."

"Okay, first of all, no," Zane answered, trying to not to lose his patience at what he considered to be a dumb question. "And second, mushrooms aren't plants. And third…why do you smell funny?"

"What?" Julio asked. "I used cologne. It's called Obsession."

"Disturbing bit of information, but that's not what I mean," Zane whispered, with a hint of regret in his voice. "Gimme a moment. Uh, do what you do and I'll catch up to ya."

Julio nodded and got on with delivering the week's food. Zane ran over to Mac and pulled him away as Luna tried to talk to the EMT crew that had come over to transport the people that had crashed as a result of Zane's violent reaction. Luckily, no one had died.

"What?" Mac hissed, annoyed at being yanked.

"We're taking a trip," Zane announced.

"Where?"

"To a special place where people go to die. Now, quick!"

Zane started running. Mac, who didn't have nearly the same stamina, groaned and struggled to keep up. They ran for ten minutes until they got to R.E. Jenner-Hait Medical Hospital. They burst in, Zane walking around like a maniac and Mac trying to keep up while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

(Youtube music: Pursuit - Sherlock)

Zane headed to the cancer ward and sniffs around, getting rather close to people and making everyone uncomfortable. Mac just tried to smile and wave to excuse Zane's behavior.

"What are you doing?" Mac hissed.

"Science!" Zane yelled and ran off to the E.R. "Oh God, this place is filled with it!"

"Filled with what?"

"That smell!"

Zane ran to the geriatric ward and whipped away the curtains separating the ward from the rest of the place.

"YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Zane screamed and walked away, sending all the old people into a panic.

"Oh, God," Mac groaned. "Now I know why he picked me and not Luna. She wouldn't stand for this."

Suddenly, a commotion told them that security was coming.

"Run!" Zane yelled and ran. Mac followed. "Run before they get ya!"

They ran through the hospital, scaring people and forcing everyone to the sides of the hallways, eventually getting outside, security still after them.

"Serpentine! Run serpentine!" Zane yelled.

"What the hell does serpentine mean!?" Mac yelled back.

"Alternate! Back and forth! Like a serpent! Don't let em get ya! Death everywhere!"

The boys ran down the street, alternating back and forth. The security guards stopped chasing them, as they only intended to get the two of them out of the hospital, and just stared at them, perplexed and confused at their odd behavior.

Once they got back to the café, they found that Luna had cleaned up the mess with the car and sent everyone off on their way. But she didn't look happy.

"Where were you!?" she yelled as Zane and Mac walked in.

"Hospital," Zane answered. "I needed a control group."

"For what?" she asked, quieter but her still annoyed. "Some experiment?"

"Julio!" Zane called the portly delivery man.

"Yes, sir?" Julio answered.

"You know, you can just call me Zane, right?" Zane offered.

"Politeness is a part of the job, but whatever floats your boat."

"Uh…right…anyways, I need you to go to the hospital with me after you're off."

"Why?"

"You're looking a bit a pale, bro. I'm worried. I just figured we'd take yeah. Luna and I will even pay the co-pay!"

"What!?" Luna interrupted.

"Well, I still got two more deliveries to make, and that might take a while," Julio countered, confused as all heck.

"Well, that's fine. But Luna and I are coming with you and we're gonna take you there ourselves," Zane replied.

"Why, Mr.…?" Julio started but stopped when Zane raised his eyebrows. "Why, Zane?"

"Because we're worried," Zane answered. "You should finish up and then we'll go with you."

Julio agreed and gets his delivery done. As they wait for him, Zane and Luna talk in front of Julio's truck.

"So what's this about?" Luna asked. "Why are waiting for Julio?"

"Julio is giving off this scent," Zane answered. "Mac and I went to the hospital to get a confirmation on the what the scent meant. I mean, I think I knew instinctually, but I had to make sure. He smelled like death. I'm pretty sure Julio is sick. Like bad sick."

"What? Since when can you sense death? That sounds like Black magic," Luna started, worriedly, then it hit her. "Unless it's a part of your werewolf instincts."

"That's my guess."

"This is quite nice of you."

"What?"

"Helping Julio. Even though you probably have nothing to gain from doing this. You could move on and just let the man die and we'd get a new delivery guy and no one would know a thing, but you got invested. You know what that means?"

"I need a new hobby?"

"You're a Mr. Nice Guy!"

"No! What? I just…"

"The big bad wolf has a big fat heart. Aww, so cute!"

"I just thought one simple thought, okay?"

"Which was?"

"What would Luna do?"

Luna blushed as she was rather moved by this, but before she can respond, Julio comes over.

"Everything's in the fridge and checked off," he announced. "I'm all for taking time off for my health, but how we gonna make the next two deliveries in an hour? They're all around town."

"I know a shortcut," Zane smiled.

As Luna and Julio got into the truck, Zane placed his hand on the side of the truck and a subtle wave of red energy through the machine. Suddenly, he could feel every instrument, part, and nuance of the twenty-ton truck tethered to his own body. He had full control. He got in.

(See card: Hijack)

As Julio drove the truck, Zane sped it past its own limit while Luna kept them in a warp that bent time and space and distance, altogether making a forty-five-minute trip last only twenty minutes.

(See card: Time Warp)

As the three of them rocked out to a classic rock station, singing hits like "Livin' On A Prayer", "Crazy Train", and a certain Warrant song about cherry pies, they handled the deliveries in lickety-split time. Eventually, they found their way to the hospital. Luna and Julio started walking towards the hospital as Zane hung back.

"You're not coming?" Luna asked.

"Uh…," Zane struggled to explain, but suddenly a security guard walking by caught his eye. Zane pulled back. "Nah, I'm gonna stay right here."

Luna noticed the guard and gave Zane a suspicious and all-knowing looking. "Fine…"

Luna and Julio walked on.

"Does he not like hospitals or something?" Julio asked.

"More like something…," Luna answered, mildly annoyed with her brother's antics.

After a couple of hours, during which Zane tried to nap in the truck and got into dumb arguments with strangers on Facebook, Luna and Julio returned. Julio looked like he was about to cry. Luna was trying to comfort him. Zane got out of the truck.

"What's the news?" Zane asked.

"Um…well…you weren't wrong," Luna replied. She looked over at Julio, who looked over at the two of them.

"Adenocarcinoma," Julio whispered. "In my lungs."

Awkward pause…

"We need IHOP," Zane replied in a whisper equal to Julio's.

In a dark crypt, a large, scaly hand moved some chess pieces around. A clawed hand resembling burnished gold. He telekinetically moved a red wolf-shaped piece holding two swords from the opposite end of the board towards himself, along with a blue fox with angel wings and a sword and purple crow with a bow and arrow. Switching between using his hand and his mind as he saw fit, he played around with his pieces. Behind them were more pieces in the shadows. On the opposite side, more pieces stood. A red dragon with large claws and a dark blue and green spider stood sentinel in front.

"The wolf, the fox, and the crow have stepped up…," he spoke in a low, sly voice that reverberated through the crypt, "But I must draw the others out…their angels must be found…the dragon and the spider failed…but…"

"The hound will enter the fray," a whiny, annoying voice interrupted him.

The owner of the hand and pieces growled an annoyed, guttural growl.

Out of the shadows, a pale, thin man with messy dark hair and goatee came forward and bowed down. The man wore black jeans and a large overcoat that were too big for him, making him look more awkward than impressive.

"Master," the man begged. "Please let me fight. I promise I'll deliver. I'll have Jack Ventura cowering before me."

His master chuckled in his low voice. "Montague…you are so pathetically eager to prove yourself…I never needed you yet you feel the need to place yourself in the line of fire for my cause…why would I deny willing cannon fodder?"

"What…?" Montague replied.

"Tibalt. Tamara. Take the dog for a walk. And let him roll in the mud."

"Idiot," Tibalt replied. "You just signed up for a suicide mission."

"Oh, Tibby, relax!" Tamara giggled. "Monty won't let the master down, will you, Monty?"

"It's Montague," the messy-haired man said as he rose up and walked off. "And no, I won't."

Tibalt and Tamara left. Montague followed them as he thought to himself, _I'll show them. I'll show my master. I'll show Ventura. And I'll win this time._

Sitting in a corner booth of the local flapjack joint, the trio placed an order for food and waited awkwardly as Julio went over the paperwork, looking rather stone-faced but with red eyes blinking frequently, trying to keep the tears away.

Luna excused herself to go to the restroom as Julio finished reading.

"I know this isn't easy," Zane broke the ice. "You're probably worried about your family."

"My daughter is eighteen now, so she can help, but she's gonna go off to college soon. Plus, she was so excited for prom."

"Was?"

"Her jackass boyfriend, Brick, broke up with her."

"Well, his name is Brick. How smart can he really be?"

Julio smiled at this, clearly not a fan of Brick. "It's my wife and my son I'm worried about. She's sick all the time with and he's on house arrest, and only because he's a minor. If he was an adult, he'd be in jail. You know what it's like to have someone you constantly worry over?"

"Well…I have a little sister and a little brother. My dad was gone right after I turned one. My mom eventually remarried and despite having a family and all that love, we often had hard times. Often when my mom and her husband were out doing their jobs and scrounging together enough money for the week, I took care of Luna and Salvador. And Luna was sick often too. And she was picky. And I just really wanted to keep a smile on her face. So, I get that."

"How do I tell them?"

"Maybe let them be happy first. Take em out for a nice day. Tell your daughter, uh…"

"Jimena."

"Jimena. Tell her that she should go to prom anyway and dance with her friends."

"Did you go to prom?"

Luna came back in time to catch this last question. "Zane? Prom? God, no!" she exclaimed. "For Zane, prom is…what was it again, Zane?"

"Idiotic pageantry for the parents and teachers and an excuse to have sex for the kids," Zane replied. "But seriously, Julio's daughter, Jimena, wants to go, so she should go."

"True, but this is about Julio," Luna countered.

"Okay, Julio, what do you wanna do?" Zane asked him.

"I wanna rush on a fuck-ton of adrenaline and eat bad food until I puke! I wanna live! Viva El Julio!" Julio yelled, attracting the attention of way too many people around the restaurant. Luna buried her head in embarrassment.

"Adrenaline!? Bad food!? PUKE!?" Zane yelled in return. "Sounds like a carnival! And the carnival's in town this week! To the carnival!"

"To the carnival!" Julio yelled back.

"Why am I the only sane one here?" Luna mumbled as she slid down under the table.

(Youtube music: Disturbed by Magi)

In a matter of fifteen minutes, the trio managed to get to the carnival in one piece. After Zane and Luna split the cost of admission as a favor to Julio, the party began. Ride after ride, funnel cake after funnel cake, epic vomit spill after epic vomit spill, Julio had the time of his life. Halfway through, Jack showed up and the three men even managed to drag Luna on some of the rides she hated, completely ruining her hair.

The pendulum ride was especially bad.

"If I ever get down, I'll kill you guys!" Luna screamed, feeling her innards go back and forth after her rather hefty meal.

The round-up was even worse.

"My stomach hates me!" Luna screamed more as she spun around.

They thought they could take a break with a predictably lame haunted house…until the spiders fell on Luna…and they weren't part of the décor.

"I wanna go home!" Luna screamed as she sprinted away from the haunted house at full speed.

Eventually, people started clearing out as the dusk approached. As they were making their way back, Zane stopped in his tracks. He sniffed the air. Everyone else stopped and looked at him.

"Zane?" Luna asked apprehensively.

Zane tensed up as the hair on his neck and arms stood up and every instinct he had screamed DANGER. He turned around immediately and looked up. Everyone's gaze followed to two familiar silhouettes standing atop one of the rides.

(Youtube music: Grimoire Heart - OST)

The figures jumped down and stomped on the ground with enough force to send a wave through the place that rattled and cracked the buildings. People panicked and ran for their lives. But the worst came after. A second wave rolled towards the heroes.

(See card: Desecrated Earth)

Zane, Luna, and Jack immediately activated a protective shielding spell to block the wave and neutralize it, much to the chagrin of the villains.

(See card: Rebuff the Wicked)

Julio looked shocked at this. He gestured back and forth between the two sides, then grabbed his head, bent over, stood back up, and ran away, screaming.

"Uh…what?" Zane looked at his friends.

"Should we help?" Luna asked.

"Nah, he'll be fine," Jack chose his priorities.

The dark figures, revealed to be Tibalt and Tamara, walked slowly towards the trio.

"Hello, children," Tamara intimated. "Luna, it's been a while. How are you, my love?"

Luna shuddered at this.

"You used a lot of mana in that blast, Tibalt," Zane spoke up. "Sure you don't need to run back into your hole?"

"Don't you worry about me, puppy," Tibalt growled back. "I got more than enough mana to put a beta in his place."

"Then try me," Zane growled back.

"Three vs. two," Jack summed up. "Sounds like a blast."

"ARE YOU SURE, VENTURA!?" a voice demanded. Everyone looked around until they spotted another figure standing atop the tents, opposite to where Tibalt and Tamara stood minutes ago. A messy-haired figure with a cape.

(See card: He Who Brings the Night - Two Steps From Hell)

"Who the hell…?" Jack asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" Tamara muttered.

The figure flung his arms out to the sides and jumped into the air.

(See card: Fallen Ideal)

He flew around and around, leaving a comet tail of black aura behind him until he took a dive…towards Luna. Luna leaned back as the figured sailed over her. She caught a glimpse of a pale, manic face with a typical douchebag chinstrap beard. As the man sailed over her, getting way too close to her face for her comfort. But then he made the mistake of making a kissy face and…POW!

(See card: Leaden Fists)

Luna punched the man in the stomach with her fortified hands.

(Music screeches to a halt)

"Not happening, pal!" she yelled, annoyed and infuriated.

The man had been punched into a fry station set-up behind Luna. He jumped out with his ass on fire, running around like a chicken with its head cut off and ass burning.

"How dare you!?" he yelled when he finally calmed down.

"I could ask you the same question, short bus!" Luna yelled back.

Jack pulled Luna aside and into his arms in a protective way with an annoyed "meh" sound.

"Who are you?" Jack asked. "And how do you know me?"

"My name is Montague Roman!" he answered. "And I was part of your battalion during your national guard training!"

A momentary flashback in Montague's memory showed a montage of Montague's epic failures in national guard training. Always a few seconds before Jack in runs, always a few points away from Jack's test scores, always a few push-ups off, and always lacking in general stamina, grace, and just everything in general. And the first time that Luna showed up to visit Jack, Montague saw her and immediately fell in love, only to be struck by the arrows of outrageous fortune when she turned out to be with his rival. Since then, his angst and ego drove him towards this moment.

"Everything I want, you have, Jack Ventura!" Montague continued. "And I will take it all!"

Montague charged and all hell broke loose. Luna pulled out her phone and input a special code. Tamara went for her. Tibalt went for Zane, goading him on and running off.

Montague swung his arms around to release a pair of whip-like tentacles hissing and cackling with energy, one on each hand.

(See card: Lashwrithe)

(See card: Nightmare Lash)

"C'mon!" Montague egged Jack on. Jack grew a pair of angel wings, pulled out his bow and quiver of arrows from thin air, and donned his Armadillo Cloak.

(See card: Call to Serve)

(See card: Nylea's Bow)

(See card: Armadillo Cloak)

Montague swung his energy whips at Jack who parried them off, using his bow like a two-bladed sword.

"Jack!" Zane yelled, running off after Tibalt. "His whips are parasitic!"

"Are they now?" Jack smiled as he stepped back to get some distance from Montague. "So you're happy to give up a bit to get ahead, are ya?"

"What do you mean?" Montague asked.

"I mean, you're giving up years of your life just for power," Jack replied. "I gotta ask, what the hell did I actually do to you?"

"You ruined my life," Montague growled. "And for that, I'll end you!"

Montague lunged and swung his whips at Jack, who continued parrying them.

On the other side of the tents, Tamara and her wood nails went toe-to-nail with Luna's leaden fists tipped with her own ice nails.

(See card: Claws of Wirewood)

Luna was also wearing her Ethereal Armor and Auramancer's Guise, while using her Angelic Destiny enchantment, granting herself wings and protection.

(See card: Ethereal Armor)

(See card: Auramancer's Guise)

(See card: Angelic Destiny)

"You're good, sweetheart," Tamara panted, out of breath. She smiled a twisted smile with a crazy sort of look in her eyes. "You push me to my best. I'd like to say that I may do the same for you. We're two of a kind. Like soulmates."

"Oh, please," Luna answered, also out of breath. "The soulmate talk is better suited for someone that actually falls for the cliché seductress routine. Or is into women, for starters."

"I like a challenge," Tamara whispered, then she zipped over to Luna and came to about two inches away from her face.

(See card: Touch of Vitae)

"Yeah, well, I like my bubble, thanks!" Luna yelled, punching her away. Tamara took the blow, reeled back, laughing with maniacal joy, and lunged into battle again.

On the far side of the carnival, Zane and Tibalt walked around looking for each other through scent as well as keeping away from each other, all the while wondering who's the predator and who's the prey. Zane was wearing his Lightning Greaves and Angelic Armaments, allowing him speed, protection, and flight. He was also carrying his Sword of Feast and Famine.

(See card: Lightning Greaves)

(See card: Angelic Armaments)

(See card: Sword of Feast and Famine)

"C'mon, Hunter," Tibalt goaded him on. "You know where I am. I know where you are. Why must we play this game?"

"Probably because you're a sadistic predator," Zane replied in his best nonchalant tone of voice. "Or had you not figured that out yet? Spoilers."

A tent ripped apart as Tibalt launched at him. Zane jumped/flew back, barely dodging Tibalt's fists, which seemed to have gained the appearance and texture of glowing armor made of wrought iron. Zane found a wave of debris smacking him with tremendous force.

(See card: Fist of the Demigod)

"Wow, usually you gotta buy me a drink before I let ya get handsy," Zane shot at him, speaking through a bloody nose and blood-filled mouth.

"I prefer to bite," Tibalt shot back, punching again.

"I noticed," Zane replied, parrying with his protective sword. "Though a note on the technique. Maybe use less tongue."

Tibalt gave a sinister chuckle at this. "You're funny, Hunter. I guess it'll be nice having a funny beta around."

"A beta…like part of your pack?"

"Precisely. Every alpha needs a pack. And between you and your baby sister, I think I picked right. You're more the type anyway."

"The type? Your type? Flattered, bro, but I don't swing that way."

"You'll see what I mean when the moon swings around to full. And your instincts take over. The bloodlust. The anger. The hunger. I wonder who you'll kill first."

"I'd shut your mouth if I were you."

"Looks like the little beta's pissed. Did I strike a nerve?"

"I'll never kill my family. Any of them."

"Let me give you a push."

Tibalt was about to take action when something collided with his back in explosive fashion. When the smoke cleared, Tibalt was on his back. Zane followed a familiar smell up to the top of the tents. This time, it wasn't a villain. Surrounded by a squadron of five drone-sized thopters (flying machines that looked like mechanical crosses between hummingbirds and dragonflies), was Mary, standing there confidently with the wind whipping around her hair and skirt.

(Youtube music: Titania Dances)

(See card: Thopter Squadron)

"Mary!" Zane yelled, happy to see her. "How?"

"Luna called me! Good evening, boys," she announced, using her thopters to glide down to the ground. The thopters then shrunk and zipped into her pocket. "Zane, buildings and cars, I get. But carnival tents? Have you no respect for entertainment?"

"Hey, it wasn't just me!" Zane yelled back. "Alpha meathead here isn't exactly subtle either."

"You insolent little bitch!" Tibalt yelled at Mary. He rolled onto all fours and began transforming.

"Aw…crap," Zane sighed.

He writhed in pain as the sounds of bones crunching as his body transformed, causing his skin to blacken. The arms elongated and he grew fur all over his body that was white, coarse, and matted with blood. His hands grew claws; legs became similar to wolf legs, just bigger and far more muscular, capable of supporting an upright beast. The ears moved up and came to points. The nose and upper jaw combined as razor sharp fangs grew and jutted out painfully. A long pink, tongue splashed saliva everywhere. The red eyes lost their sclera and became a disturbing, angry red with crescent pupils moving rapidly in every direction.

"He's…a lot…bigger than I imagined," Mary gulped.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

Tibalt roared. Zane and Mary ran. Tibalt took chase. Mary used her own speed spell to keep with Zane and his shiny boots.

(See card: Accelerate)

"Where are we going?" Mary yelled. "Parking lot?"

"Glad we're on the same page!" Zane yelled back.

They make it to the parking lot just barely ahead of Tibalt. They split up and started touching cars.

(See card: Start Your Engines)

The cars roared to life. As they cleared each car, it swerved out, accelerated well beyond normal means. Tibalt found himself slammed one by one with entire used car lot's worth of vehicles, all veering off and coming to a halt in random places.

His bones were cracked over and over again before they could heal, even at the regenerative speed of an alpha. After what seemed to be the last car, Tibalt stood up, his energy worn out. He reverted back to his normal self.

Looking ahead, he saw an interesting sight. Zane and Mary were sitting in a two-seater golden racing cruiser with blue aether tendrils swirling around the wheels.

(See card: Fleetwheel Cruiser)

Both of them had sunglasses on; Zane had solid crimson ones and Mary had gold. Zane lifted his glasses and cackled like a maniac, the blood on his face adding to his insane appearance. He stepped on it. The cruiser accelerated to seventy miles per hour in an instant and rammed Tibalt. Then to add insult to injury, he turned around and rammed Tibalt over and over again. At the last one, Zane and Mary converted the cruiser into a way more destructive vehicle. A black dragster with very impressive ramming power.

(See card: Ovalchase Dragster)

This hit sent Tibalt flying and rolling back into the carnival ground. Tibalt looked around and saw Montague and Tamara on the ground, passed out next to him. He had landed right between them. He looked behind himself and saw Luna and Jack, standing there, triumphant.

They both had some scratches and cuts and Jack had cotton candy in his hair. Jack pulled some out and ate it.

"Ew!" Luna exclaimed.

"You…how?" Tibalt growled.

"Sheer badassery," Zane replied. "Not bad for a beta, huh?"

"They're not bad," Tamara said, waking up and getting to her feet.

"I want another go," Montague demanded.

"Anytime," Jack replied. "Just don't wear a cape next time. Eventually, it'll screw you over."

"Really!? Fashion advice!?" Montague yelled back.

"You…bastards," Tibalt growled, bending over. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"

He stood up tall and flexed and roared. Suddenly, the earth began cracking and the area began pulsing with power. Fissures opened up underneath them. Jack immediately wrapped his arms around Luna.

(See card: Destructive Force)

"What is he using!?" Mary yelled.

"Something bad!" Zane yelled back.

"Tibalt, no!" Tamara warned. "You'll hit everyone!"

"He's lost his mind!" Montague yelled.

"GO TO HELL!" Tibalt screamed.

BANG!

The shaking and pulsing died. Tibalt stood there, his face screwed up in anger and shock. He looked down and saw a bullet hole in his abdomen. It sparked and glowed a bright whitish-blue. Tibalt fell backwards. Tamara and Montague leaped on him and the three of them sank into the ground in a split-second.

(See card: Entomb)

"What the-?" Luna asked.

"That was a big gun sound," Jack confirmed.

Everyone looked to see where the bullet came from. Behind Zane and Luna stood Argus Silver, atop his massive, yet sneakily quiet bike-tank.

"Argus," Mary whispered.

"You know him?" Zane asked, in an almost defensive way.

"Well done, Argus," a voice came from behind the bike-tank. Calibos appeared.

"Dad!" Mary exclaimed.

"Dad?" Zane asked, surprised.

"Dad!" Calibos replied. "As in Calibos Soul. Mary's father and the Commissioner of Police of the PSMP."

He extended his hand for Zane to shake. As Zane shook it, he realized there was something off about Calibos. It wasn't the generally glazed look in his eyes. It wasn't the odd paleness of his skin. It wasn't even really the fact that his hand was very cold. No, it was more of the fact that….

"You smell funny," Zane muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Calibos asked.

"Nothing," Zane corrected himself. "Nothing. Um, I'm Zane Hunter. Mary's friend."

"Yes, the red mana user. Mary's told me. Careful about that," Calibos replied. Zane looked at Mary as Calibos criticized his mana usage. Clearly, Calibos and Mary didn't communicate everything about their lives.

"Anyways, thank you for your help everyone," Calibos continued. "But next time, leave it to the professionals. You're hurt and you've caused a lot of damage. You're lucky to be alive. And even luckier that I consider it self-defense. Threats like Tibalt Capulet, Tamara Titus, and Montague Roman aren't the only issues in the city. Next time, don't get involved. That's an order."

"An order?" Luna shot back. "How dare you? We're doing your job better than you. For past few weeks, hell has been seeping into this city and we're the ones dealing with it and you're nowhere to be seen. The only PSMP employee helping us has been Mary, and that's not as a cop, but as our friend and team member."

"We'll back off when we the city can get along without us," Jack continued Luna's sentiment. "Feel free to step in anytime."

"You'll do well to watch your tone, boy," Argus warned.

"Who are you anyway?" Zane asked.

"Argus Actaeon Silver," he gave his introduction.

"He's my partner," Mary added. "He's new to the city."

"Nice shot earlier," Jack spoke up. "Military?"

"Of sorts," Argus replied. "I'm a hunter by profession and I suppose now a law enforcement specialist."

"A hunter of…," Luna asked.

"A hunter of werewolves, mostly," he answered.

It took a moment for this to sink in as reality. But when it did…

 _A HUNTER OF WHAAAAAAT!?_ , Zane, Luna, and Jack minds screamed.

The conversation ended rather quickly after that.

Afterwards, Mary came by for dinner and to discuss the issues in recent development. They decided that they needed to keep away from Argus and his massive gun. Tibalt, Tamara, and Montague were the immediate threat and they needed to be defeated as soon as possible, but without dying in the process. So, they would fight, but they wouldn't seek out a fight.

Mac's research brought info about the villainous trio to light. A lot of criminal activity. Mary still had a lot to go through. As for Hannibal Hogan, that was still a mystery.

As for Julio, Mary found him rattled and shaken by the revelation of magic and convinced him that it's okay. He was religious enough to eventually be okay. He returned home. In six months, he would die and his family would be alone. Mary promised to make sure they weren't left completely without support. Little known to the rest of the team, Becky got a hold of their banking information and gave them some monetary support "from the government".

Zane and Luna talked among themselves after everyone else went home or passed out.

"I think we need to talk to mom," Luna spoke up. "It seems like something she'd be able to advise us on."

"Yeah," Zane replied. "I was thinking that, too. But she's never dealt with anything like this. I know she trained us to fight like angels. But we're humans."

"Mostly," Luna corrected him. He just smiled.

"Mostly," he agreed as a thought crossed his mind. _But that's the part I'm afraid of._

Tibalt's words echoed in his mind: _You are on a journey now…like me…you're just like me…and with time, you will realize that you no longer belong with humanity…join me…and howl with me…you'll see what I mean when the moon swings around to full…and your instincts take over…the bloodlust…the anger…the hunger…I wonder who you'll kill first…_

 _I can't kill her._


	5. Chapter 5 - Flashback - Part 1

**Chapter 5 – Flashback – Part 1**

In the deep crypt underneath the city, the large, scaly dragon moved a golden hummingbird piece alongside the wolf, fox, and crow.

"And as my ranks prove their ineptitude, their ranks swell," the dragon growled.

"Master," Tamara pleaded. "Please pardon us. Tibalt would have defeated them, until…"

"The wolfhound entered," the dragon finished as he moved a gray wolfhound piece to stand perpendicular to the other two sides. Then, he added another piece to the side with the dragon, spider, and hound. "But so did the vulture."

"Master, please!" Tamara pleaded again. "Tibalt needs help."

"I'm fine," Tibalt growled, walking over to Tamara's side. He bowed to his master and stood back up. "I am prepared to do what it takes to defeat the holders of the angels. I must end this today."

(Youtube music: Dragon King)

The dragon rose up, chuckling in his growling voice. "If you really have that thirst to prove yourself, then so be it!"

The dragon released a blast of black fire at Tibalt. Tamara yelped and jumped back. "Tibalt, no! What did you do, master!?"

(See card: Promise of Power)

The black flames dissipated and left Tibalt…raw. Tibalt's skin was glowing shiny and red, covered in circular scars that were moving and swirling into demonic shapes. His eyes were glowing red. Immense heat flowed from him.

"This power…master, I humbly thank thee," Tibalt bowed again.

"Gratitude is only the expectation of further favors," the dragon sighed. "If you wish to show your worth, do it. Summon the Beast of Destruction."

"Tibalt…the power it takes to summon the Beast is too much!" Tamara screamed at him.

The dragon spread his wings and released a blast-wave of wind that blew Tamara away.

(Youtube music: Winds of Rebuke)

"Are you ready, Tibalt?" the dragon asked, but in a way which was more commanding than questioning.

"Yes, master," Tibalt growled, with a big toothy smile on his face and a manic look in his eyes. "I will burn them to the ground. AND SMOKE THEIR SOULS UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!"

Tibalt laughs maniacally as the dragon looked on in sly triumph.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail Opening 2)

I. sousa WE CAN DO IT! motto hatena darakede ikō

fushigi eno tobira wa me no mae ni aru

kono sekaijū ga WONDER LAND

bokura wa mō sudeni WONDER ringu

doki doki ga waku waku ni nattara WONDER furujan

jibuntte dare darō? riarutte nan darō?

ashita wa doushite mienain darō?

koukishin no bun dake leberu UP shiteku

kimi to boku no EVERYDAY sutetamon janai desho?  
oshiete Sense of Wonder

jinsei wa shugyou nari

dakara WE CAN MAKE IT motto hatena sagashi ni ikō

arifureta kotaeja gaman dekinai

mahō ni kakatta WONDER LIFE bokura no mirai wa WONDER ringu.

shitai koto shite ikiteru houga ganbarerujan

LET'S WONDERING!

II. That's right, we can do it! So what if life's full of mysteries?

The miraculous door is right before our eyes.

This entire world is a wonderland.

We're already wondering!

When anticipation turns into excitement,

it'll be wonderful, won't it?

Who am I? And what is real?

Why can't we see tomorrow?

The more curiosity, the more we achieve higher levels.

Our every day together is pretty fun, don't you think?

Tell me! Sense of Wonder.

Teach it!

Life is full of teachings!

So we can make it!

Let's go search for more mysteries!

I won't be satisfied with the typical answer.

A wonder life that's under a spell.

Our future is full of wonder!

It's better to live your life doing the things you like because then, you'll be able to work harder!

Let's wonder!

Let's Wondering!

III. Replace video with these shots:

Opening shots of the main 7 characters

Team shot

Logo

(Youtube music: All Our Days - Instrumental)

Carrying a plate of cookies, Luna walked bravely but apprehensively to end of a long and dark hallway until she reached the wolf's lair. A foreboding sign read:

 **WARNING!**

 **INTERNAL TEMPORAL-**

 **SPATIAL FLUX INSIDE!**

 **HIGH-TEMPERATURE**

 **AND GAMMA RADIATION**

 **ABOVE HUMAN**

 **ENDURANCE!**

 **IN OTHER WORDS,**

 **STAY OUT!**

Luna just smiled and shook her head. She knocked on the door. Shave and a haircut.

She got a knock in response. Two bits.

She opened the door to find Zane compulsively typing away on his Cintiq computer with his headphones on. His room was covered with artwork of his characters and various fandoms including Doctor Who, Pokémon, and Iron Man. His bed had a Doctor Who comforter, a gift from Luna for his last birthday. That's one thing Luna liked about Zane. He actually used the gifts he got from the ones he loved. Luna touched Zane's shoulder. He looked at her with an annoyed expression, which immediately melted away when he saw who it was. He took off his headphones.

"What's up?" he asked, switching his view in-between her and his screen.

"Wolfsbane cookies," she announced proudly. The plate held five grainy-looking, light purplish-blue chocolate chunk cookies.

"How is this an improvement over the protein shake of doom?" Zane asked, turning pale at the simple memory.

"Mithridatism is complicated, but I assume because solid food takes longer to digest, you'll get used to it," Luna replied. "Might not puke it out because it's food. I don't know. This is really an experiment. I'm sorry I have to try it on you."

Zane just smiled. "Hey, experiments often require risk. And honestly, what you're doing for me, trying so hard to make sure I have one less thing to worry about. As far as little sisters go, I really got the best one around."

Luna smiled as Zane's words calmed the nervousness she felt about feeding her brother poison.

Zane took a bite of a cookie, managed to chew it and swallow it. He waited for a bit as Luna watched him apprehensively. Suddenly, his stomach started hurting. Luna immediately started rubbing his back. His hands gripped the table, almost breaking it. Tufts of hair appeared on his jawline. His nails began growing. His groaning became deeper. But then, as suddenly as it had started…it stopped. He reverted to human. He was sweating profusely and his eyes were red. Luna waited in an ironically patient horror. Zane waited for a moment to calm down and then smacked his lips.

"Hmmm," he mused. "Tastes like a chocolate chunk cookie mixed with old plants and dirt."

"Then…," Luna replied. "Next time, more chocolate!"

"No complaints!" Zane rejoiced.

"But are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah…I mean…a bit queasy. I assume that'll pass with digestion, along with other things."

"I hope so. I mean, we still don't how it comes out when it comes out of the bottom."

"As long as it doesn't burn or bleed."

"Pray to God. Anyways, what are you doing? Are you ready for tomorrow? We haven't seen mom and dad in a while. Plus, the beach will be fun."

"Almost ready. Just doing this."

Zane gestured towards the screen. It showed a bunch of small squares that contained camera footage. This was surprising. She had been expecting anime porn.

"Mac got me footage from the parking lot cams during our last fight with the Hell Brigade," Zane explained.

"Hell Brigade?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, Mac and I riffed off a list of possible names and that's the best one we came up with."

"If that's the one that made the list, dare I imagine what the rest were?"

Zane immediately flashbacked to the conversation between him and Mac as he repeated the list for Luna.

(Youtube music: The Benny Hill Theme)

"Hell's Belly-up. Because belly-up means dead and we'll kill em eventually. Probably," Mac offered.

"The Infernality," Mac offered. "Poetic?"

"Demons' Dong."

"Legion of Doom."

"Copyrighted."

"Legion of Death."

"Legion of Hell."

"Hell Platoon."

"Hell Crusade."

"Too religious."

"Hell's Army."

"Hell…"

"Hell…"

"BRIGADE!" both yelled.

Back in the present, Luna facepalmed. "If that's the best you can do…," she groaned. "Anyways, what's this all about? Researching the enemy?"

"Pretty much," Zane confirmed. "Look at this."

Zane sped the video to the point before Tibalt began getting rammed repeatedly by every car in the parking lot.

"Okay, why is that so much more fun to watch than to hear about it?" Luna chuckled.

"Because it was a very satisfying victory," Zane replied. "Unfortunately, I can't seem to beat this bastard alone. The first time, if it wasn't for your Blue Sun's Zenith power-up, I wouldn't have been able to bring him down. And the second time, Mary was a huge help. And I figured out why. It's not just his power."

Zane moved the cursor to the moment when Tibalt went from the carnival grounds to the parking lot. But Tibalt barely showed up as he was moving too fast to be seen as more than a blur.

"Whoa, what?" Luna exclaimed. "Play that back but slower."

Zane obliged by slowing down the playback. Tibalt covers the distance shown in the camera view in approximately…

"Three frames," Zane summed up. "He can cover ten feet in an eighth of a second. We barely missed getting caught and that was thanks to my shiny boots and her speed spell."

"He's big and lumbering, but he's fast," Luna whispered.

"Yes, but watch this." Zane showed Luna the full footage of the fight. She noticed exactly what he intended to show her.

"He's big and fast," she concluded. "But about as agile as a sumo wrestler. He only went in straight lines and very wide turns. Like a truck. He can't make sharp turns."

"Then I need to get faster and more agile if I wanna beat him. We need to train for this."

"Yeah! Jack can help too!"

"Where is he anyway?"

"Well, he was just sleeping around so I send him to check on Mac, who's digging through the attic, prepping for tomorrow's trip."

"Wait…you sent a guy who can fall asleep anywhere to check on a guy who _will_ fall asleep anywhere?"

"Oh…we should probably check on em."

Minutes later, Zane and Luna came across a predictable scene in the attic. Jack and Mac had fallen asleep amongst the rubbish and debris in the attic.

"I should've expected this…," Luna sighed and looked around. "We seriously need to clean in here. Actually, we need to clean the whole house. What are you doing?"

Luna noticed Zane walking towards the sleeping duo in a sneaky way while holding a sharpie.

"No!" Luna ordered, grabbing the sharpie from Zane. "Don't you dare!"

Zane went, "Hmmph…fine."

"I'll get a broom and dustpan. You wake em up," Luna announced and left. As soon as she left, Zane put on a toothy grin and got a sinister twinkle in his eye as he pulled out a second sharpie from his pocket. Hehehe…

The next morning, a day much hotter than the days before it, Luna exited her café, wearing a rather flowery and summery blue dress, while accompanied by Jack, who was wearing a purple and white swimming trucks and a gray shirt with sunglasses that would make one wonder if he was still asleep or not.

Mac and Hannah walked out. Hannah had just finished explaining a ten-card strategy to Mac, who was not listening due to the fact that he was preoccupied with Hannah's cleavage, which was very much on display due to her skimpy white tank top which she wore over a leafy two-piece bathing suit. Being a foot taller than her was rather advantageous. Mac was wearing dark blue and black trunks with a faded blue shirt.

"Where's Becky?" Luna asked Mac, who pointed inwards. Becky was sitting inside, defiantly drinking coffee while wearing a white and orange sundress that covered her swimsuit and showed off just enough. Becky looked outside and saw her friends waving happily at her. She sighed in a peeved manner, sipped the last of her coffee, handed the mug back to Marcia, the robot employee, and walked outside to join everyone.

"Luna, why do we have to go the beach today of all days?" Becky groaned. "I have important clients from Venezuela coming in today at noon and my lackluster COO and CFO have to be the ones to handle it. It's a potential 1.5-million-dollar deal. If this deal falls through, I'm blaming you and the pyro."

"Hey, I'm sure they got this," Luna tried to put on an understanding and apologetic tone. "Besides, my parents are heading off to Alaska to see Salvador in a few days, so the window of opportunity was short. We have important questions to ask them."

"Speaking of the pyro," Mac inquired. "Is Zane done packing the car yet?"

"You could've helped," Luna argued. "Jack and I got food ready. Becky just got here from work. Hannah, same from school. What did you do?"

Mac thought about this for a moment. "I supervised. In my sleep."

"What…is…that?" Jack spoke up.

Everyone looked around to see that a vehicle had arrived. The same racing cruiser that Zane and Mary had used in their last battle with Tibalt. Except now, it had been modified with Zane's artificer skills. Not only had it gained a fourth wheel in the back, but it had been expanded to become a big golden SUV with blue aether tendrils swirling around the wheels, which were tilted outwards. Basically, a magical golden seven-seater Batmobile with maroon upholstery and a black interior. It even had a pair of surfboards strapped to the top. Zane sat in the driver's seat, looking rather proud of his handwork.

(See card: Fleetwheel Cruiser)

"Is this the Fleetwheel Cruiser?" Luna asked, not sure if she was more concerned or impressed.

"Yes, ma'am," Zane confirmed. "A wonderful Kaladeshi racing vehicle created by the expert artificer dwarves of the great aether-rich planet, it is able to go more than three hundred miles an hour in 2.3 seconds flat and take a titanium wall to the bumper. It's the fantastic Fleetwheel Cruiser! Zane Hunter edition."

"Isn't using a racing car as an everyday vehicle sorta dangerous?" Luna asked, worriedly.

"Would you prefer one of the dragsters? The ones built for crashing?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Everyone piled into the car and found it rather comfortable. Mac and Hannah took the back along with Becky. Jack took the seat right behind Zane. Luna was about to take the passenger seat next to Zane in case she needed to play navigator for whatever reason (even though Zane knew the way by heart), but then she heard her.

"Wait for me!" Mary's voice rang through the air. Everyone looked over at the café and Zane's jaw dropped slightly. Luna just smiled, knowing exactly why Zane was having this reaction. Mary was running out of the café, carrying a big bag of muffins in one hand and a coffee cup in the other hand. But that wasn't what Zane was saw.

Mary was wearing the world's tiniest booty shorts, showing off her ample curves and perfect dancer's legs, and a yellow and blue crop-top tank top with a picture of a muffin on it. Her shoulder-length red hair was just long enough to whip in the wind. She had her golden sunglasses on.

Zane took in a long inhale. He had never really been able to blush for whatever reason, but if he could, he'd be as red as Mary's hair.

As Mary came up to the car, Luna gave a Zane her trademark all-knowing smile. "I think I'll take the back. Mary, you sit with Zane."

"What?" Mary spoke up.

"What?" Zane repeated.

Mary was startled by Luna's offer. "Don't you usually take the front seat with Zane?"

"Yeah, but Zane wanted you to take the front this time," Luna replied. "He really likes spending time with you."

"Really?" Mary squealed in happiness. "Zane, that's so sweet!"

Zane thought about what just happened and repeated, "What?"

Mary sat next to him as he tried to adjust to not show off too much of his own gearshift.

Luna took the seat behind her. Jack looked at her and gave her a sarcastic thumbs-up. Luna just scoffed in reply and waved him off.

And they were off. The drive would take them forty-five minutes through the massive city of Arcane. Along the way, they discussed Zane and Luna's family.

"What do your parents actually do?" Mary asked.

Zane pulled down his visor mirror to look into it to see Luna's face. Luna's big green eyes were staring back at him from the mirror in a warning sort of way.

"They work up north in a toy factory," Zane replied.

"Up north?" Mary asked. "Then what are they are doing living by the beach?"

"Water-ever they want!" Mac commented. Everyone groaned.

"Anyways," Zane continued. "They only go up there during the winter months."

"Busy time?" Mary asked. "I bet they have a good management staff up there."

"Actually," Zane smirked. "They're generally a bit short-staffed."

Everyone except Mary began giggling at this.

"I don't get it," Mary spoke up. "What are you all laughing at?" This elicited more laughter.

They drove on. At one point, a bullet train began running parallel to them as they went down a long and empty farm road. Everyone except Luna and Becky began cheering Zane on to speed up and beat the train. Luna just braced herself for any impact and began praying. Becky just sighed. Zane actually managed to beat the train at the speed game with the power of the Fleetwheel Cruiser alone and not kill everyone, much to everyone's pleasure. Luna didn't unclench until they finally reached the beach minutes later.

The beach was packed that day but luckily, Zane and Luna's childhood home was high up on a hill overlooking the beach and felt generally secluded from the bustling beach below.

"It's like a house belonging to a Disney princess before she moves to a castle," Mary looked up at the small but roomy-looking house in awe, looking over its domed roofs on small jutting towers and a rustic blue and light purple color scheme, making it look like a miniature castle on a fairy princess cake, but not in a nauseating way. It looked lived in, old without being rickety, and it had a generally happy air around it. A white pick-up truck was parked in the driveway and an unrecognizable busted-up vehicle was on its side near a small shed behind the house and off to the side.

Mary looked around and saw a vintage mailbox. Bright red with white calligraphic writing.

"They've repainted it," Zane spoke up. "And it was done on a day with high humidity."

"Okay," Mary sighed. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Well, there are paint splotches on the ground, which means the paint dripped off before it completely dried, which means the newspapers that were placed underneath it were removed before it could completely dry, which means mom painted it, because only she couldn't wait long enough. Plus, the paint splotches are of two different colors, one matching the red of the box, and one darker because it's older and dirtier paint."

"I'm a professional detective, And I couldn't get that."

"You're a professional for sure. Detective…is debatable."

Mary gives Zane a death-stare and is debating whether or not to punch Zane when she is distracted by a potential deduction of her own.

"That mailbox says 'Claus'…," Mary wonders out loud. "Up north, toy factory, winter months, short-staffed…Zane?"

"Yeeeeees?" Zane mused with a big smile.

"Are you trying to tell me that your dad is Santa Claus?"

"Hold up, Sam Claus is not my dad. He's my step-dad. Luna and Salvador's dad. I'm half-siblings with both of them."

"Not this again," Luna's voice interrupted them. "Zane, seriously, he considers you a son."

"Unfortunately," Zane replied. "I'm not his son."

"Wait," Mary spoke up. "What happened to your biological dad?"

Zane sighed and looked around. "He left." And so did Zane. He walked off towards the house. The others had finished unpacking the beach stuff from the car and were making their way up the curving stone path to the driveway of the house.

Mary walked cautiously towards Luna. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Luna replied. "I'm just worried about him. This has never been an easy subject for him and the family in general."

"What even happened? If you don't mind me asking…"

"Honestly, I wasn't even born yet when he left. And it's not a subject that comes up a lot for obvious reasons. But from what I've heard from late night conversations and hints and whispers, Zane's dad left when Zane was less than a year old on some important business. And he never came back. More than twenty-four years later now, the best guess we have is that he's dead considering his body was never found."

"Okay, so that's why Zane's last name is Hunter. But you and Salvador are named Howell? Why is that?" Mary asked.

"Cover names. Our names were put down differently from birth so enemies of Christmas don't find us," Luna replied.

"There are enemies of Christmas?" Mary wondered out loud. "Heavy shit."

Luna and Mary looked on at Zane, who was lost in his thoughts. He remembered back when he was barely eight-years-old and his father failed to answer his request to show up at career day and Zane refused to let Luna's father step in.

(Youtube music: Guild Memories)

"I want my real dad!" Zane screamed, boiling with anger, each pounding step he slammed into the ground releasing a sparks and swirls of flames. His mother anxiously flitted around him, carrying a fire extinguisher, making sure Zane didn't burn the house down. Zane stomped around, his legs covered in foam, which was slowly being spread around the floor by his tantrum.

"Your dad isn't around anymore, Zane! He's gone!" his mother pleaded, her brown eyes filling with tears and her long hair a mess. "Please let your step-dad help out! He makes toys! Your classmates would love that!"

"I don't care! He's not my dad! You told me that he's not my dad, so I don't want him there!"

"Your dad is gone, Zane!"

"Then I'll find him! I don't care where I have to go or how long it takes! I'll find my dad!"

Zane was about to leave when a tugging on his shirt stopped him. He turned around and saw a pair of big green eyes staring defiantly at him, pleading him to not go, challenging her big brother to make the right decision.

"Pwease…," Luna squeaked. "I need yo' help. Pwease don't go. Just help me with my pwo…my pwo…"

"Your project," Zane finished, suddenly feeling a calm rush over him.

"My pwo-jet. I need to make a dwawing of my big bwotha."

Zane looked back and saw Salvador hiding behind his mother. A tall skinny boy with very curly, almost afro-like hair. He qualified as Luna's big brother. In Zane's eyes, Salvador was more her brother than he could ever be. But Luna was trying to get him to stay.

"If you help me, you can go afta'. I need you," Luna squeaked again.

Luna didn't need him. Not when they were children, not now that they were adults. But that was Luna for ya. Always there to make you feel loved and wanted, even if the rest of the world didn't care for you.

That night, the three siblings spent hours working on a drawing of the three of them since Luna had two big brothers and the drawing felt incomplete without her. It was a rather complicated and advanced drawing for an eight, six, and four-year-old but Zane and Luna's art talent kicked in early and Salvador was rather liberal with crazy colors.

As Zane remembered this day, his annoyance turned into a smile, but his daydream bubble popped as he heard a voice yelling at him.

"Hey, what are you doing just standing there!? Get over here and hug me!"

His mother had opened the door and was waiting for him. A short tan-skinned lady with long, dark hair still in her PJ's and wearing glasses, Marilyn Claus looked like a typical mom, kind-faced with a loud voice. Aside from her lighter skin and green eyes, Luna looked very similar to her mother.

Zane ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Luna and Mary made their way up.

"Mom!" Luna squealed as she hugged her mother, who took turns doting on her kids and checking their bellies and faces to see if they had eaten enough lately. Then Zane pulled Mary over.

"Mary, this is my mother, Marilyn Claus. Mom, this is Mary, my…uh…," Zane blinked for a few seconds. Mary stared at him, confused and expectant.

"Friend!" Zane and Mary finished together.

"She's my friend!" Zane confirmed. "I don't know why I had to think about that."

But Luna and Marilyn knew exactly why as they gave each other slight smirks along with their all-knowing looks. Like mother, like daughter.

The rest of the team had already gone inside and made themselves at home, none more so than Mac, who had immediately raided the pantry.

"Mac, we have food packed," Luna reminded him.

Mac's reply was barely discernable through the massive bread roll in his mouth, but it was something along the lines of, "I thought that was for the beach and (undiscernible mumbling)."

"I'll pretend to understand that…," Luna rolled her eyes and walked off.

Jack had taken a chair and was surfing the web on his phone, randomly giggling at things until Luna pulled him over the family to socialize. Lunch was served and everyone began talking and clamoring over the clinking of glass dishes and steel utensils. Except Zane, who preferred to use plastic utensils. Eventually, the man of the house came down. Sam Claus was a skinny man of average height with a bit of a pudge. He had short white hair and a groomed mustache. He clearly had not changed out of his PJ's either as evidenced by his Scooby-Doo onesie.

"What, everyone shows up and you forget to call down the guy that paid for it all?" he joked. "You know what they call behavior like that in my business?"

"A coal risk," Zane and Luna spoke in unison.

Mary immediately stood up and stuck out her hand. Sam obliged and shook it. "Hello, sir, I'm Mary Soul and it is so nice to see you in the flesh! Thank you so much for the Easy-Bake oven when I was five and the 256-colored-pencil set when I was twelve. Everyone wanted to be friends with me because I had that lovely wooden box filled with like every color known to man. Well, it was either that or because I had started growing boobs because most of my friends were dudes."

Everyone was trying really hard to look like they weren't laughing at all this.

"Well…okay," Sam mused. "Good to meet a relatively good list kid. You said you were Mary? That girl Luna told us about over the phone? Zane's girlfriend or something."

Zane immediately choked on his drink. Luna facepalmed.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Zane gasped, coughing. "What the fuck?"

"Language," Marilyn muttered.

"Sorry, sorry! Just the way Luna was saying. Apparently, you're close, so I figured, maybe…," Sam explained.

Zane glared at Luna, who just tried to look small and apologetic with a big smile. Everyone else was enjoying this way too much.

Mac pulled Jack aside. "Care to place a bet on when Zane and Mary get together?"

Jack thought about it and replied. "By this time next year. If they do, I win. If they don't, you win."

"You're on," Mac agreed and they shook on it. Luna pulled Jack's ear as she heard all of this.

"This family sure is lively, isn't it?" Hannah tried to engage Becky in conversation.

"Sure," Becky replied. "If they end up having a fist fight, this trip might actually be worth it."

After lunch, Mac and Hannah cleaned up the kitchen and put away the food while Jack and Becky washed the dishes. Actually, the girls did most of the work while guys "supervised" until they got yelled at by Mary, who ushered them to help deal with the considerable mess still left behind.

Zane and Luna took their Marilyn aside and filled her on the recent events: the deaths of the card shop owners, Hannibal Hogan's disappearance, the emergence of the Hell Brigade, and the seven blanks given to Zane by Hannibal. Marilyn heard them out in patience and then sighed.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Luna asked.

(Youtube music: Mavis)

"Victor Rosas, our mage. Sally Descartes, our aerial fighter. Cooper and Stan Salvatore, our stealth experts. Uma Redding, our best defense. Sam Claus, our best physical fighter. Me, the healer and protection expert. And Zachary Hunter, your dad, Zane, our leader and best warrior."

"Wait," Zane spoke up. "They were all your friends? What about Hannibal?"

"Hannibal wasn't a fighter. He was more of our librarian, a bookkeeper that held the fort down when we were out doing our job. We were eight mages that came together to defend the city and ultimately the world," Marilyn continued.

"WHAT!?" Zane and Luna exclaimed.

"Well, I did train you two!" Marilyn exclaimed. "I figured you'd realize I had some sort of talent for helping people!"

"Well, yeah, but…," Luna started.

"We didn't know y'all were the freaking Avengers!" Zane finished.

"Don't be so overdramatic," Marilyn replied. "We only did what you're doing. Except now…this Tibalt character."

"He's a werewolf," Luna explained. "And…"

Zane sighed, "So am I…"

Marilyn just stared at him for a moment and then, "What!? You're getting on me about being some sort of superhero and you're dealing a werewolf that actually bit you? Have you transformed yet?"

"No!" Zane replied. "I've only been bitten for like a couple of weeks now. The next full moon is like…uh…"

"A week from now," Luna muttered. "October 5th. Nine days before your birthday."

"And sixteen days before yours," Zane countered. "Birthday surprise! I'm a murderer!"

Luna punched Zane in the arm for this. "You're not a murderer! You're a hunter!"

"And you're way too aggressive about this," Zane muttered, flexing his arm.

"I'm putting Zane through a diet that introduces wolfsbane into his system to immunize him so it can't be used against him as a weapon," Luna explained.

"So, you're poisoning him to cure him," Marilyn summed up. "We seriously raised you kids in a questionable way."

Zane and Luna didn't really know what to say past this. Marilyn sighed and looked around, possibly for a distraction. And she found the remote. She turned on the TV…only to reveal the local news channel covering the recent damages to the city.

An attractive blue-eyed brunette explained, "Not only was an entire downtown street of cars and businesses up-ended like a bomb went off, but an entire Home Depot had been reduced to rubble by a sinkhole created by what scientists dub as 'giant sewer worms', which city officials are actually referring to as compacted sewage and food waste. Of course, this does little to explain the wreckage of the carnival grounds. We have Phillip Malarkey on the scene with an eyewitness."

The screen switched to a blond, tired-looking man interviewing a wired-looking old man.

The old man started blustering and spitting out words and spit, "And these two young'uns, one guy and one chick, they were running from a big white monster, all growling and ugly-like! They used some sorta magic or super-strength and…"

"So, as you can see," Phillip interrupted the man and pulled away. "We have no real solid witnesses on this case. All we can assume is that whatever the case was, some true conflict occurred here. This is field reporter Phillip Malarkey with camerawoman, Carly Esbach. Back to you, Poser."

The screen switched back to the news anchor, who was failing at trying to not look unimpressed and annoyed.

"It's Posey. Brandy Posey. In any case, until we get a lead on who or what could be causing this instances across the city, we urge you all to remain vigilant and alert for anything that may be a clue. Now on to sports, Serena Williams…."

Marilyn turned off the TV and gave her kids a sideways glance of all-knowing irritation. "Zane…Luna…anything you want to explain to me?"

"Uh…," Zane uttered. "Oh, look, the beach!"

And Zane ran off at top speed.

(See card: Burst of Speed)

"GET BACK HERE!" Luna yelled at him for leaving her alone with their irritated mother.

(Youtube music: Let's Party - Fairy Tail)

Everyone else took this as their cue to head down to the beach. The beach had a lot of activities. Volleyball games, an arcade with some old games and even some games featured in carnivals and amusement parks (like a high striker), and some classic beach symbols like a limbo contest and the sunburnt lifeguard who cleared applied all his sunscreen on his nose.

Once there, they unwound and kicked off their clothes. The boys with their respective trunks had rock-hard bodies.

Jack and Mac were already in their trunks, and Zane pulled off his jeans to reveal his own.

"Nice trunks," Jack complimented him. "It's like a fireball in newspaper colors. Black and white and red all over."

The three boys couldn't help but laugh at that joke.

Over by the girls', Becky took off her dress to reveal a tall fair body covered with a skimpy two-piece bathing suit decorated with blue wave designs.

"Seriously, I wish I was as tall as you," Hannah complained to Becky. "You're so beautiful!"

"Kid, you're beautiful, too," Becky replied. "You're freaking adorable."

Hannah blushed at this and realized that dudes were staring at her, especially Mac, who walked into a pole, fully distracted.

Luna stepped out. Her lightly tanned body was covered by a two-piece blue and white suit that hugged her every curve.

"Whoa, are you sure you can wear that?" Becky asked. "You're really well-endowed and I feel you oughta double up on the tops to support those girls."

"Ha-ha," Luna replied. "Very funny. Where's Mary?"

"Probably showing off for Zane," Hannah mused.

These ladies, standing tall and proud with their curves and legs, were beautiful in their own way. But the one that got Zane's attention was Mary, who took off her already tiny clothes to reveal a white teeny bikini. But there was something special about this swimsuit.

"Is that a Neko Keyhole swimsuit? Fantastic. Now I'm never getting over her," Zane sighed.

Mary looked over and Zane, who immediately looked away, hoping she hadn't noticed. Mary, however, noticed something on Zane. Something that made her worry. He still had the remnants of Tibalt's bite on his left abdomen.

Luna walked over to her. "Hey, Zane check you out yet?"

"Yeah, I think so," Mary replied. "Hey, Luna, don't werewolves heal like super-quick?"

"Yeah?"

"Then what's up with Zane's bite scar?"

"Well, maybe they don't heal the initial bite or any scars that are from magical sources?" Luna offered. "Does it bother you that much?"

"Actually, no," Mary smiled. "I kinda like scars. They reveal a lot about a person and kinda look hot."

Luna couldn't help but smile her all-knowing smile at this.

Jack walked over to Luna. "Hey, sexy babe, can you rub sunscreen on my back?"

"Sure," Luna rolled her eyes with a pleased smile, agreeing to the task as she squeezed some SPF fifty-five onto her hand as Jack turned around and Luna saw something shocking on his back. Written across Jack's back, in black Sharpie ink, were the words:

 **STAND CLEAR!**

 **HOT GAS EMISSIONS**

 **BELOW! TOXIC!**

"What the…?" Luna exclaimed. "Oh, of all the…Mac, lemme check your back!"

"Wait, what?" Mac blinked in confusion but didn't have much time to protest as Luna swung him around to check his back and, as she assumed, his back had the message:

 **WARNING!**

 **NARCOLEPSY**

 **RISK!**

"Well, gee! I wonder who could have done this!?" Luna yelled.

(Zane's aside, "Hehehe! It was me!")

"What happened?" Jack asked.

Luna explained what Zane wrote on their backs. Jack and Mac took a moment to process if they were more amused or pissed off.

"Zane! I'm gonna…," Luna started.

"Wait," Jack interrupted. "He wrote on my back, so this is my shot at him."

"What about me?" Mac asked.

"Are you actually going to do anything?" Jack asked him.

Mac thought about this for a second and shrugged. "Meh…I'll go bury myself in the sand."

Jack ran over to Zane.

"Zane!" Jack yelled at him. "Care to start our regular tradition of beach extremities?"

"Oh, you're on!" Zane agreed.

"EXTREME!" Zane and Jack yelled.

"This won't solve a thing," Luna sighed.

"Beach extremities?" Hannah asked. "What does that mean?"

"Probably something stupid," Becky answered.

"EXTREME SANDCASTLE BUILDING!" Zane and Jack yelled and began furiously building a massive structure at top speed, attracting quite a lot of attention, until they overdid it and the whole thing came tumbling down, burying themselves and the nearby Mac in sand.

"Are they okay!?" Hannah worried.

"Who cares?" Becky replied.

But this didn't slow them down and they ran off to…

"EXTREME LIMBO!" They ran back and forth underneath a staff propped up on two other sticks and went lower and lower each time until they were basically crawling, hereby winning the contest.

"That's actually really impressive," Mary observed.

"Who needs to take turns when no one else can do it, am I right?" Mac mused, still able to talk since his head was still out of the sand pile he was under.

And next…

"EXTREME EATING!" They started scarfing down the food they had brought earlier.

"That's the food for later! And you just had lunch!" Luna yelled.

And next… "EXTREME SWIMMING!" They jumped into the water and began swimming circles around boats and other swimmers. At one point, Zane snagged someone's extremely large bikini bottom and prayed to God that it was at least a woman. Unfortunately, they had jumped in too soon, and this led to…

"Extreme…cramping…" Zane and Jack lay on the beach, clutching their stomachs.

"Of course…idiots…," Luna sighed.

But this didn't slow them down either, as they recovered and ran off to…

"EXTREME SURFING!" The two of them hit the ocean again and started hanging ten on a gnarly wave like biggest, baddest kahunas in existence…until Becky appeared on her board from behind them. The boys suddenly wiped out but Becky was going strong and gaining admirers from the shore, especially two surfer dudes.

"Brah, she's hot and cool at the same time!" one of the surfers exclaimed. He was a tall bald guy decked out in tattoos.

"I wonder if she'll sign my boobs. I mean, my butt. I mean, my board," his buddy mumbled. He was a short, very fat guy with straw-like blonde hair.

Suddenly, Becky swerved by, forcing a massive wave to crash over the dudes, while also depositing Zane and Jack on the ground. Both of them got up, looking miffed.

"You know, considering that she's a Hydromancer, I'm not even mad," Jack haughtily declared.

"Yeah, right," Zane countered. "You're just too proud to admit you're pissed."

"Yeah, well," Jack counter-countered. "You're too pissed off to have any pride."

They heard a weird sucking sound and realized that there was some sort of jellyfish creature on the surfers' heads. Zane grabbed the jellyfish and dropkicked it back into the ocean.

"AND STAY THERE!" Zane yelled at it.

The surfer dudes gasped and stood up.

"BRAH! YOU NEARLY KILLED US!" the bald one yelled at Zane.

"Don't yell at me, 'brah!'" Zane yelled. "That was Puka, the blonde bitch!"

"I say we settle this like men!" the fat, blonde one offered. "We have a lotion-rubbing contest. I'll be the guy that gets rubbed."

Everyone is immediately disgusted by this.

"No thanks, Tiny Tim," Jack replied. "How about volleyball? Best beach activity!"

"EXTREME VOLLEYBALL!" Zane and Jack announced.

The ground near them started shaking as Mac rose out of the ground in an almost mechanical way. "I'm in!"

The surfer dudes pulled up a large net filled with volleyballs.

"Nice ball sack," Zane mused. "Did your husband buy it for you?"

The surfers didn't appreciate this.

The whole team along with some random people joined in and made it one huge volleyball game. Back and forth the ball went. Zane and Jack had put their friendly rivalry aside and proceeded to dominate the game. At some point, it changed from volleyball to dodgeball with Zane sending people out of the game at record pace. Balls flew.

(See card: Fervor)

Unfortunately, in his Fervor, Zane failed to notice the rest of team taking heat as well until a ball hit Mary in the face and caused her nose to bleed.

"Ow!" Mary grabbed her face. "Watch the face, will you!? Of all days! I really wanted to look good today!"

Zane suddenly stopped in his tracks. His vision went literally red as his mind flooded with animal rage. The temperature around him sky-rocketed. People screamed and some ran off. Luna, who was taken with the mood of the game, suddenly stopped in alarm when she realized that the sand underneath her brother's feet was turning into crystal under the duress of the temperature.

(See card: Burning Anger)

"Zane, no!" Luna yelled. But all hope was lost when someone threw a ball at Zane, who grabbed it with expert reflexes and began growling.

"Uh…," the last ball-thrower stepped back, realizing he was screwed. "I think I'm out. I'll just…"

"You're out when I say you're out," Zane growled and threw the ball at devastating speed.

(See card: Fling)

(Youtube music: Disturbed by Magi)

Grabbing each and every ball he could find, Zane let loose in every direction. People ran helter-skelter, begging for cover from the assault. It was gym class flashback.

"YOU BASTARDS ARE GONNA GET WHAT'S YOURS! MWAHAHAHAHA!" Zane laughed maniacally as he swung ball after ball, knocking people down. Some people weren't even playing.

"He's lost his mind," Becky mused as she knocked aside a ball that nearly hit her. "What else is new?"

"I was expecting hell to break loose," Luna replied. "He's just being himself."

As people ran to their cars and away from the beach, begging for dear life, Zane chased down the guy that hit Mary and threw one last ball and blasted the guy into the High Striker game in the arcade area, sending the puck straight to the top and past it, going sky high and then dropping on the head of the bald surfer dude.

"I win," Zane announced at the end of all this, still growling.

"Zane! What the hell!" Luna yelled. "You know, this is exactly what the issue with all the collateral damage! This is why mom is pissed!"

"Hey, relax, will ya?" Zane replied. "No one died and besides, he had it coming."

"And the rest of the beach?" Becky countered.

"So, I overdid it," Zane shot back. "It's called collateral damage for a reason!"

"Guys, please," Mary tried to help through her bloody nose.

"Oh, so it doesn't matter who's in your way or what?" Luna yelled. "If Zane Hunter is pissed, it's okay to blast everything? Including all of us?"

"I would never attack you guys!" Zane yelled back. "It was a game!"

"Your rage is out of control!"

"It is not! I am perfectly CALM!"

At this moment, the ground shook as if raging along with Zane. An earthquake that sent the remains of the beach into a panic.

"Zane! Too far!" Luna yelled.

"That wasn't me!" Zane looked towards the city. "Maybe Mac rose up from the ground again."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Mac complained. And so he was.

"No, it wasn't," Hannah confirmed. "I can feel it in the earth. That came from downtown."

"We need to go," Jack advised. "All of us this time. If that shaking was powerful enough to be felt out here, then this is huge."

"No kidding…," Becky added in a morbid sounding tone. Everyone looked around to see her staring off towards the ocean and then they realized what was coming. The water on the shore immediately receded and everything seemed still for a moment. But then, it the horizon. The ocean boiled with the sky and rose, higher and higher, into a wall of water approximately a hundred feet high! The earthquake had triggered a MASSIVE TSUNAMI! Headed straight for the coast!

The remnants of the tourists and beachgoers ran like crazy, racing off as fast as they could, getting into accidents in the process and doing more harm than good.

"We need a someone to handle the wave and someone to maintain traffic!" Luna advised Zane.

Zane immediately sprung into leader mode. "Becky, you handle the wave. Mac and Hannah facilitate the traffic on two fronts, north bound and south bound. Everyone else, follow me!"

Zane rolled into the ground, sinking into his hammerspace dimension and popped up with his Angelic Armaments plus wings, Lightning Greaves, and Sword of Feast and Famine. He flew off at high speed.

(See card: Angelic Armaments)

(See card: Lightning Greaves)

(See card: Sword of Feast and Famine)

Becky sighed, grabbed her surfboard, and surfed towards the wave, augmented by her Hydromancy. The wave was luckily still a few miles away.

Mac and Hannah leaped into action towards the roads.

"Does he just expect us to follow at that speed?" Mary asks, her nosebleed stemmed by napkins, but her nose still red and raw.

Luna replied. "We can't. You can. Go ahead! We'll catch up!"

Mary sped off ahead.

(See card: Accelerate)

"Are you gonna smack Zane after all this?" Jack asked.

"If we survive, I'll kill him!" Luna dramatically announced.

The couple ran off in the same direction as Zane and Mary.

Mac and Hannah run to the street and try to talk to people to move in a better way as to avoid accidents, but people seemed to not care what two seemingly insignificant people had to say.

"What are we gonna do? No one cares that we're trying to help!" Hannah complained. "Gah, I hate being so small!"

"Then we get big!" Mac announced and touched the ground. As he began groaning with effort, he rose and behind him, rose a massive fifty-foot-tall stone man decked out in Greco-Roman style armor, complete with a Spartan-like helmet and a massive sword in a scabbard strapped to his side.

(See card: Colossus of Akros)

"Meet the Colossus of Akros!" Mac introduced his favorite creature. People immediately came to a halt and started exclaiming and screaming at the Colossus, all the while taking plenty of pictures.

"He's beautiful!" Hannah squealed. "Mind if I copy him?"

"I'd be insulted if you didn't!"

"Now, it's time for my guy!" Hannah announced, twirling as she did and showing off her petite body in the process, making Mac very happy. "Progenitor Mimic!"

(See card: Progenitor Mimic)

A green-armor clad fairy carrying a shining sword appeared with a burst of green light and floated to Hannah's side. People clapped and oohed and aahed.

"Is there something you need, my lady?" Progenitor Mimic asked Hannah, bowing.

"How come you never bow to me?" Mac asked his Colossus who sarcastically bowed down and glared at Mac. "Uh…never mind…"

"Progenitor, I need you to become the Colossus of Akros!" Hannah commanded.

"In a jiffy!" Progenitor announced and surrounded himself with a tornado of green light. The tornado shot up to the Colossus' height and then dissipated. A green-colored Colossus of Akros stood next to the original. The two Colossi looked at each other and fist-bumped. The audience clapped and took more pictures.

"All right, guys! Take care of traffic! Make sure everyone is safe around here! We'll be back soon!" Mac delegated. The Colossi nodded and began ushering all the people safely around each other.

Mac nodded. "Let's go, Hannah!"

"Wait, we need to wait for Becky!" Hannah reminded him. "Is she okay?"

They both looked out at the ocean. The wave was now very close to shore.

(Youtube music: Sariel - Two Steps From Hell)

But suddenly, Becky popped up on top of it with a large two-pronged fork-shaped weapon in her hand. The bident was glowing an oceanic blue radiance.

(See card: Bident of Thassa)

She struck the Bident of Thassa into the wave. The wave divided in two as Becky's Bident and surfboard cleaved through it. Suddenly, the wave lost its momentum and lowered. By the time it reached the shore, it was only big enough to wash over all of the sand.

(See card: Displacement Wave)

Becky surfed onto the shore and the water receded. She sighed and looked over the Claus' house, only to see that Sam Claus had fallen asleep on the back porch looking over the beach and had clearly missed everything.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Becky exclaimed. "SANTA'S BEEN PASSED OUT THIS WHOLE TIME!?"

"Becky!" Mac yelled. "Over here! Let's go!"

Becky nodded. The three of them regrouped and ran off to join their friends.

Zane burst into downtown above a horde of people running away screaming.

"What the hell?" Zane wondered. He swooped down and used his free hand to grab a random guy, who began freaking out even more as he began running in midair.

"Calm down!" Zane ordered. "I'm not gonna hurt you! What's the matter? What's going on?"

"It just popped out of nowhere, man!" the poor man screamed. "Some dude's doing some satanic shit back there! Lemme go! I got a wife and kids and a mortgage and I don't think death is gonna pay it off!"

Zane placed the man down safely and he ran off. Zane flew further towards the presumed epicenter of the quake. He halted in midair when he saw it. Massive cracks in the road and sidewalk. The cracks ran through the heart of downtown and up buildings and monuments, completely wrecking the infrastructure and look of the area. They had even reached the sewers as evidenced by pipes that had burst out of the ground were spewing human waste in every direction. But all the cracks were leading back towards one place. Zane followed them, but he didn't have to for long as he almost immediately found it.

A massive collection of grisly looking blood-covered blades formed a ten-foot wall in the heart of downtown, right in the center square. No, it wasn't a wall. As Zane flew closer to it, he saw that it was an altar of sorts with a circular platform etched with creepy but familiar symbols on it, including a symbol that looked like a circle with an arrow sticking out of it diagonally.

"Mars?" Zane wondered. "It's like a dais or an altar…for a summoning?"

The blades surrounding the platform were bloody and held by grotesque looking statues of people in pain, crying and screaming with red lines coming from their eyes and mouths.

(Youtube music: Dragon Civil War)

The bleeding statues…suddenly, Zane found himself remembering…memories he tried so hard to forget…his first time in another world…bleeding…screaming…fire…pain…all he wanted to do was get out…

"Zane!" Luna's voice snapped him out of his memories. Turns out, he had nearly fallen out of the air, but Luna and Jack had caught him, both decked out in their usual armor and weaponry. Mary pulled up next to him. She was piloting a large thopter like it was a biplane. Two other thopters flew behind her.

(See card: Ethereal Armor)

(See card: Angelic Destiny)

(See card: Auramancer's Guise)

(See card: Armadillo Cloak)

(See card: Call to Serve)

(See card: Bow of Nylea)

Mary gave Zane concerned look. Zane gave her a thumbs-up.

Suddenly, a tower of black flames burst out of the altar and dissipated soon after, revealing Tibalt standing there, still red and raw with a maniacal look on his face.

(Youtube music: Eisenwolf)

"Careful, kids," Tibalt chuckled. "Don't wanna get too close to a Hell Gate Altar. Of course, you've already had the grand tour down there, haven't you, beta?"

Everyone looked at Zane. Zane just growled. He pulled out of Luna and Jack's grip and float closer to Tibalt.

"What is all this?" Zane demanded. "The energy this _thing_ is outputting is insane and it's clearly satanic in design. What are you planning?"

"Oh, right," Tibalt smiled. "You're not just a werewolf. You're an Angelomancer. So, you and your buddies up there probably got some tingling in your wings."

Zane, Luna, and Jac, in fact, fact feel a strange, foreboding sensation in their wings and limbs. The Hell Gate Altar was giving them the willies, but Zane was affected the most. His head felt like a spike bowling ball was being bounced off the insides of his skull. Flashes of painful memories shot repeatedly through his mind.

"I'm gonna give you one warning, Tibalt," Zane growled. "Stop this now. Look at yourself. You look hideous. You're clearly fucked up with janky dark magic and it's only gonna screw you up further. Back out now and we can help you."

Tibalt laughed raucously. "Give me a break, Hunter! You help me? You're my beta, you fool! I own you! Maybe if you had accepted my gracious gift, you wouldn't be in this predicament! Begging me to stop! You're pathetic! Maybe I shouldn't have picked you! Maybe I'll go for your sister instead! I was gonna have you kill her when you finally turn, but maybe I'll enjoy sinking my fangs into her soft flesh instead!"

"YOU BASTARD!" Zane charged sword-first towards Tibalt, who cackled with glee and lightning as he released red and black waves of lightning at Zane.

(See card: Bituminous Blast)

Zane barely blocked it and fired back his own red and white blast, connecting with Tibalt's blasts of lightning, which he was recklessly blasting off in every direction.

(See card: Lightning Helix)

Buildings were torn apart by the blasts of lightning. Luna and Jack blocked the blasts before they reached them and Mary. Mary took the time they provided her and had her thopters launch a rapid-fire assault of machine gun-like magical energy. The blocked hits from Luna and Jack's protective spells rebounded and rained back down upon Tibalt, who just smiled and took them, his raw, red skin absorbing the blow.

(See card: Divine Deflection)

(See card: Coordinated Barrage)

"Thanks for all that!" Tibalt laughed. "My turn."

Tibalt roared as energy from the wreckage around them was drawn in towards the altar and into the Mars symbol on the circular dais. It began glowing red.

(See card: Devil's Playground)

"Welcome to hell, kids!" Tibalt announced as swarms of small red devils, nasty, growling, menacing, some burning, and all pure evil, burst out of the altar and quickly took over the area. Mary released more blasts from her thopters.

(See card: Scalding Devil)

(See card: Torch Fiend)

(See card: Vexing Devil)

(See card: Stone-Throwing Devils)

(See card: Rakdos Cackler)

(See card: Impetuous Devils)

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

Some devils ran rampart and even killed themselves to wreck stuff. Jack tried to shoot them all down while Luna flew around putting up spells and enchantments to protect her friends and the city around them. Zane tried really hard to bypass the swarm to get to Tibalt but repeatedly found that the devils were intent on preventing that by ramming him and then exploding on impact. Some found their way to the top of the burning buildings and started launching debris with expert aim and speed at the airborne heroes.

"Ack!" Mary exclaimed as a massive chunk of piping slammed into her thopter, forcing her to retreat. "These things can actually fight!"

She focused her assault on the debris aimed at her and her friends but suddenly, a fireball was aimed from the ground and raged towards her. She realized it too late, but suddenly, a blast of water intercepted the fireball. She looked around and saw a flying chariot speeding towards them. Mac was flying it with Becky shooting down flying devils and fireballs and Hannah copying her spell so two high-pressure water blasters provided an epic magical offense as Mac flew them around.

(See card: Hydroblast)

(See card: Soratami Cloud Chariot)

(See card: Reverberate)

Two gargoyle horrors flew behind Mac, tearing up any devils that they found.

(See card: Stonewing Antagonizer)

Mac mimicked a triumphant trumpet fanfare. "Aerial support has arrived! Prepare for ass-kicking!" His voice was a bit muffled due to a hawk-themed helmet he was wearing, but people got the point.

(See card: Peregrine Mask)

Tibalt stayed surprisingly calm through all this as all the energy from the destruction around him was being sucked into the altar.

"Guys!" Zane yelled. "He's preparing to summon something! Those things are just distractions! We need to stop Tibalt!"

"Kinda busy!" Luna groaned as she used her holy sword to barely keep a devil from slobbering all over her face pushing it away with the flat edge and then slashing it in half. It was then that she noticed that its energy floated down to the altar and was absorbed.

Suddenly, the altar began glowing. The earth responded to this by shaking.

"This isn't good!" Hannah yelled. "What if this starts another tsunami?"

"Our Colossi can help!" Mac answered. "And hopefully, the Clauses, too!"

"That doesn't look good," Hannah warned, pointing at the altar.

(Youtube music: Grimoire Heart OST)

Swirling waves of darkness began pouring from the altar. The dark clouds began swirling around and forming shapes. A head, a neck, massive wings that erupted from the sides and send dark waves in every direction.

"Meet my best friend!" Tibalt exclaimed in a maniacal glee. "The biggest, baddest demon you will ever meet! Sathares, the Beast of Destruction!"

The pain in Zane's head reached an all-time high.

"Take them down, Sathares!" Tibalt commanded. "Show them what you can do!"

The still shadowy form of the demon opened what resembled its mouth, absorbed the energy from the dais into a sphere of swirling red and black flames and released a wave of them. Zane, his guard down due to the memories racing through his mind, got a face-full of the blast. His greaves and wings broke and dissipated. His sword fell. He fell. Down and down. Until Luna and Jack grabbed him again. He squinted at the demon taking form. A massive dragon-demon with horns curving back. Jet black scales with red accents. Massive leathery wings and a tail that ended in an array of spikes. The Beast of Destruction had been summoned and Zane couldn't beat it. Pain, horror, and anger washed over him. But also fear. Why was he afraid? He had defeated all manners of creatures before? Why did this thing scare him so much?

"Sathares!" Tibalt yelled. Sathares launched another blast at Mac, Becky, and Hannah in the sky. Mary's two thopters intercepted it but this blast was way stronger as Sathares had risen much further in form and power. The resounding energy blasted all the airborne heroes back and send them reeling towards the ground with sickening crashes. Mac and the girls with him got out of the wreckage of the chariot. Luna went over to Mary and pulled her out as Jack got Zane to the ground.

"It's…Mars…Sathares…," Zane groaned. "It's…a creature…made to destroy…made…for…war…"

"All right, calm down," Jack advised. "We need to work on a plan."

All the heroes grouped together and tried to stand.

"I think you got one more go in you before you need to recharge," Tibalt estimated. "Sathares, finish them."

Sathares powered up for the biggest blast yet. Luna and Jack put up their defensive shields. Zane tried to raise his hand to join them, but could barely see.

"Say your useless prayers! And then go to hell!" Tibalt yelled. "This is your final judgement! Sathares!"

The dragon-demon launched the hellfire blast at the heroes. As black and red flames raged towards them, they all thought one thing…they needed one miracle…one saving grace…

As hellfire descended upon the heroes, a light shined from within.

(To be continued…)


	6. Chapter 6 - Heroic - Part 2

**Chapter 6 – Heroic – Part 2**

When Zane Hunter was six years old, he became the first student at Arcane Elementary to actually cause bodily harm to students during a food fight that started because "Bill Davies said I was a fatherless 'bat rastard'." He got a week of detention. Bill got three days. Marilyn and Sam weren't happy.

In third grade, he destroyed a jungle gym when Rick Willis refused to give back his favorite Batman action figure, which Zane claimed was given to him by Santa Claus. Rick mocked Zane's belief in Santa and taunted him to the point of losing his temper. Zane got suspended for a week. Rick had to get surgery for his burns. Marilyn and Sam were furious. Of course, no one believed Rick's claims that Zane was a fire-wielding monster.

In sixth grade, Zane tied a rope to second-grader Susan Bentley's underwear and strung her up a flagpole for picking a fight with Luna. Zane only got another week of detention because even the teachers hated Susan. Marilyn wasn't happy. Sam couldn't stop laughing at the outcome.

In eleventh grade, Zane had gone a while without a real explosive incident when Salvador managed to single-handedly piss off the entire football team. Zane had to help him beat the entire team. This got Zane two weeks of suspension. Salvador got the same, but detention instead. Parents weren't happy. Luna had so much bossing and eye-rolling practice by now.

When Zane was twenty-one, he lied; he used people out of anger. An immature mindset and selfish impulses drove him to get revenge on a toxic group of friends. The friend group cannibalized itself and blew up, though not literally. Luna remembered that day as the worst of her life and of Zane's life as well. After losing his friends, Zane stole a bottle of sleeping pills from his grandmother and downed the thirty-or-so pills. As he did, Luna walked in on him.

The trauma activated their sparks. Both siblings became Planeswalkers together. She went to a place with a bright light, fluffy clouds, and the most overwhelming feeling of peace. But a few minutes there was five hours on Earth. When she awoke, so did her brother, much to her relief, but was he her brother?

What had he seen? Where did he go? She found that in the years following his suicide attempt, Zane was a different person…and when he finally told her where he had been, she realized she knew the whole time.

(Youtube music: Strong Bonds in Mind)

As hellfire descended upon the heroes, a light shined from within.

Zane squinted and looked up to see a massive spectral being above him. In fact, there were several spectral beings above them all. A rainbow of them. Animals. Some he recognized right away. Others took a while. A scarlet wolf. An azure fox. A violet crow. A royal blue bear. A golden hummingbird. A saffron frog…? An emerald worm? No, a snake. Did someone in his team summon them?

"Who did that?" Jack asked. But everyone stayed silent. No one claimed credit. It seemed the spectral beasts had protected them all from Sathares' blast. Sathares, a massive black and red dragon-demon, stood, almost fully formed, on an altar of swords and grotesque, bleeding statues. A dais that absorbed energy from destruction powered it through Tibalt's magic. Destruction reigned, cracking through the ground and the city around it. The sky had turned red. Fire and corpses of destroyed devils covered the area.

(Youtube music: Eisenwolf)

"A soul surge!" Tibalt growled, amazed, his raw-red face actually showing fear. It quickly turned to anger. "I'll show you a real soul surge!" Tibalt grew out his fangs, tufts of light-colored hair around his face, and claws. His face became more grotesque in a halfway transformation. His eyes glowed red as his sclera turned pitch black. He roared his wolf roar. Red energy surrounded him and swirled up, slowly forming into a spectral shape of his own.

"Uh, we need to go," Mac advised. "Call it a coward's instinct, but we can't fight this thing!"

"I agree!" Luna replied. "We need a fast getaway though. I don't have much magical energy left."

"He's slow at this 'soul surge' thing," Hannah observed.

"Probably because he used up all his power summoning that thing and now has nothing left to power another blast, so let's go now, before he manages to power it again! Or releases something else at us!" Becky yelled.

"How?" Jack yelled back. "The car's back at the beach."

Suddenly, an engine roared behind them. The Fleetwheel Cruiser, Zane Hunter edition, stood behind them, lights on, aether tendrils swirling, and engine roaring.

"How…?" Mary started.

"I called it…," Zane groaned. "Good Fleety."

"Fleety?" Mac wondered out loud. "That's a terrible name!"

But instead of answering in a snappy remark, Zane collapsed, his power levels run completely dry.

"Go, go, go!" Luna ordered, taking the leader mantle in Zane's stead.

Jack grabbed Zane put him in the seat behind the driver's seat. Mac, Becky, and Hannah got into their usual seats. Mary got in next to Zane and propped him up. Luna used up the remainder of her power to send a powerful spell at Tibalt and his dragon, trapping them in a massive dome of ice, stopping the villains in their tracks and buying the heroes some time. But the soul surge above Tibalt was fully formed into a massive spectral dragon. The dragon roared and flew towards the heroes. Luna ran as Jack swerved the car around. Luna jumped headfirst into the car as Jack drove off. The dragon roared and flew behind them.

(See card: Ice Cage)

Mary went into action mode and used a speed spell to power the car beyond even its capacities, causing everyone to reel back. Jack barely dodged stuff as he drove at breakneck speed through the downtown streets.

(See card: Accelerate)

Suddenly, the dragon evaporated.

"What?" Hannah questioned, relieved and confused all the same.

"Soul Surge," Becky remembered. "Maybe it got too far from Tibalt's soul."

"That psychopath has a soul?" Mac asked sarcastically.

"Apparently, coward," Becky mused.

Mac blew her a raspberry.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 8)

I. Chotto yogoreta SUUTSUKEESU wo motte

Nani mo shirazu ni sora kara orita

Chizu no mukou, koko ni sanjou

Yume ni mita akogare no basho

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Oh baby JANJAN kabe norikoeyou with my guitar

Todoku made oh yeah utaou Just music sore dake de

Kimi ni sasageru yo oh yeah

MAJI de kyoutsuuten no hou ga ooi nchau no? with my guitar

Sagashinagara yea utaou, just love tada sore dake de,

Oikake get free?! My perfect dream!

Yea Yea Yea

The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

Ne teru toki mo

Oki teru toki mo

Yume wo mikata ni shiyo yo Yea

II. Along with a little dirty suitcase,

I descended from the sky.

Across the map, it called me here,

the place I've longed and dreamed for.

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

Oh baby, strum strum, I'll overcome the walls with my guitar.

Reaching far, oh yeah, I'll sing.

Just music, that's all,

I dedicate it to you, yeah.

Seriously, don't we have so much in common? With my guitar,

let's search, yeah, and sing.

Just love, only just that,

chasing to be free!? My perfect dream.

yea yea yea The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

When I'm sleeping, when I'm awake, I support my dreams.

I wanna believe the singing on beat,

most recently is like recess for me.

Pretty pretty please, no birds and the bees,

but ecstasy with extra cheese.

Rhyming rhino sounding like bono,

all smacked up with a black jack bottle.

When I say "ho", you say "hey"

You don't understand what I'm saying, huh?

III. Team shot

Superimposed shots of members

Logo

Montague's castle

Zane vs. Tibalt

Luna vs. Tamara

Mac and Hannah run from baddies

Becky vs. baddies

Mary and her Thopters

Jack vs. Montague

Montague rages with power

Montague's demon

Zane, Luna, and Jack, ready to fight

Allies

Zane and Luna fly down with angel wings

Battle scenes.

Team shot

Logo

(Youtube music: All Our Days - Instrumental)

Once they found themselves in safety, Luna and Mary switched places. Mary kept her speed spell going in short amounts while Luna used the meager strength she had to heal Zane.

(See card: Healing Hands)

"Thank you…," Zane groaned.

"Shhhh, just take it easy," Luna advised.

"I'm sorry…I fucked up…I just thought…the demon…," Zane muttered.

"I said shush!" Luna ordered. Zane closed his eyes and laid back. Luna smiled and continued her work.

Luckily, all of them had placed their regular clothes in the car before heading out the beach, allowing for a quick change of clothes.

Once Zane was stable, Luna placed a call to her mom and almost immediately…

"LUNA KAY HOWELL! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE NEWS IS SHOWING!? I'M HERE WORRIED SICK AND YOUR DAD IS TRYING TO GET HIS CONTACTS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING AND RESCUE SERVICES CAN'T EVEN GET INTO DOWNTOWN BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE AND NO ONE CAN USE MAGIC AND THE ARMY CAN'T EVEN GET IN DUE TO SOME STUPID AUTHORIZATION! AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN PICKING UP YOUR PHONE! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Mom, I'm okay, we're all okay. Zane is just down for a moment. He took a lot of damage and we all used up too much power, and…I'm sorry…"

Luna assured her mom that everything would work and, after ten minutes of talking, finally got off the phone.

They drove on for a while in silence, everyone feeling their own version of utter crap, until Jack spoke up.

"So, it's nice and all that we got away and everything, but where are we going exactly?"

No one had an immediate answer.

"How bout an animal shelter so Mac can get in touch with other scaredy-cats?" Becky offered.

"How bout a dog pound so we can dump your bitch-ass in there?" Mac countered.

The two of them were about to start bickering when Luna spoke up, "Hannibal."

Everyone looked at her, as much as they could, considering they were sitting in a car and Jack was driving.

"Why Hannibal?" Jack asked.

"Because Tibalt was after him. Tibalt killed all of mom and dad's old teammates and friends. Hannibal was their librarian of sorts. He's clearly important. Which means he knows stuff. Stuff that could help us."

"Fair point," Mary agreed. "But where do we find the old drunk?"

"I think we oughta start with his shop," Luna replied. "We might find clues. Isn't that right, Zane? Return to the scene of the crime?"

Zane smiled and nodded sleepily.

"Hey, how come you never ask me when it comes to being a detective?" Mary complained. "It is my job, after all!"

"And how many of your cases do you solve and how many does Zane solve?" Luna shot back.

Mary laughs nervously. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"How come you never get on Mary's case when she says stupid stuff?" Mac asked Becky.

"You spend a lot of time around Hannah," Becky replied. "And as Hannah's honorary big sister, I have to watch out for any shit you might pull. Get it?"

"What?" Mac exclaimed. "I would never hurt Hannah! She's like my favorite person!"

"Aww!" Hannah smiled. "I'm loved!"

Minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Hannibal's Happiness Hobby Shop. The place looked exactly the same as before. A complete wreck. A good chunk of the front wall was destroyed in the first fight Zane and Luna had against Tibalt.

Zane had regained enough power to stand now, despite the still remaining pain in his head. But Luna stumbled coming out and Zane supported her, until Mary came out stumbling as well, having used up her power keeping Fleety going at super speed. Jack took Luna and Zane took Mary. All seven of them walked into the shop and looked over the wreckage.

Zane and Jack propped their girls into chairs and let them rest.

"All right, so what do we see?" Jack asked.

Zane sniffed the air. "Alcohol, very faint, opened last night, most likely."

"Could be ghetto kids," Mac offered. "Unless…"

"It's coming from inside," Zane confirmed the exception. "A lit cigarette, being smoked right now. Almost finished, judging by how much of the smell of smoke has diffused through the air."

Becky concluded, "Someone's here."

Zane walked to the back room. Suddenly, they heard a crash. Luna and Mary stood up, and then immediately had to sit back down.

An old man with gray, windswept hair, a ratty shirt and shorts, and a look like the devil was behind him, ran out of the back and towards the front hole. But it wasn't the devil. It was Zane as evidenced by a chair flying out of the back and hitting Hannibal square in the back and knocking him down. Zane walked out of the back, growling. Luna buried her face in her hands.

"Someone's feeling better," Hannah commented.

"Someone else is not," Mac offered, pointing at the old man, who started getting up.

(Youtube music: Gilderoy Lockhart)

Hannibal Hogan did not look pleased. He did not look particularly well either. He had lost a significant amount of weight in the past couple of weeks. He was unshaven with yellowed teeth and wide, bloodshot eyes that still showed a bit of his yellowed scleras. The smell coming from him made it obvious that in addition to not ceasing his smoking and drinking habits, he hadn't showered recently either. He looked, in a word, pitiful.

"Hannibal Smith?" Mary asked. "I thought you died."

"What?" Luna asked. "Isn't it Hannibal Hogan?"

"Sweetheart, I've been through enough names to fill a baby book," Hannibal replied, groaning and stretching his back. "And yes, Hot Legs, I am Hannibal Smith, too."

"I wanna slap him," Mary mused.

"Everyone does," Jack shrugged.

"I wonder why," Mary quipped. "You worked for the PSMP as a medical examiner. And then you died of a heart attack. Faking your death is generally not a very legal thing to do."

"Well, let's just say, circumstances forced me to change up my life a bit and I had no idea that you'd follow me here," Hannibal explained.

"I didn't follow you," Mary replied. "I thought you were someone else."

"Oh, good," Hannibal sighed in relief. "So, I'm not slipping."

"Lovely chat and all," Zane added. "But we need to ask you a few questions."

"You," Hannibal pointed a shaking finger at Zane. "Hunter! You and your damn father! Same exact M.O.! No hi, no hello, Hannibal, how are you? It's either a yelling match or a chair to the back!"

"Hi. Hello, Hannibal, how are you?" Zane replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Would you prefer a yelling match now or another chair to the back?"

"What do you want!?" Hannibal yelled.

"Answers, you rat bastard!" Zane yelled back. "We just fought a fucking demon not half an hour away from here! You nearly get killed after handing me seven blank cards and then you disappear! No explanation! No nothing!"

"So, yelling match then," Mary quipped.

"You still have those?" Hannibal laughed. "You're stupider than you look then! Those cards got a target painted on my back! I gave em to you so I could bail! I come back one night to raid the place for anything I left behind, pass out drunk, wake up to light a cigarette, and bam! Goddamn Zane Hunter, son of goddamn Zackary Hunter, the biggest loose cannon since Attila the fucking Hun, comes in and throws a chair at my back! I'm fifty-eight years old! You think insurance is cheap at my age?"

Zane pulled out the seven blank cards out of his jacket pocket and threw em down on the counter. Hannibal went over to them, gave them a long, hard look, and sighed.

"I supposed I should have seen this coming," Hannibal groaned. "Fine, lemme get something."

Hannibal started walking to the back.

Zane stepped in his way.

"I'm not running away!" Hannibal yelled. "This place doesn't even have a back entrance anyway! It's not fancy like your little café/Kids Next Door fun club!"

"How do you know about that?" Jack asked.

"Better question?" Hannibal replied. "What don't I know? I know a lot. In fact, there's very little basic info about you all that I don't know. Your birthdays, your blood types, your job history, you preferred colors of magic, your measurements."

"Excuse me?" Becky asked, ready to slap him.

"Never mind. Anyways, I deal in information, kid. And I got a big book of it right here. Now, move."

Zane got out of the way. Hannibal walked into the back.

"Think we can trust him?" Mac asked.

"We came here for information," Luna replied. "We might as well hear him out. If we don't like it, we'll leave."

"If we don't like it," Zane offered. "I can aim the next chair a little higher."

"I heard that!" Hannibal yelled. Luna gave Zane a look of warning.

"Anybody know what the dragon thingy actually was?" Hannah asked.

"Ask the walking talking card encyclopedia here," Becky looked over at Zane.

"Any other time, maybe," Zane replied. "But honestly, I've never seen that thing before. But I know it's a demon. He called it Sathares."

"The Beast of Destruction," Hannibal announced as he walked back in, carrying a rather sizeable tome. "And nobody offer to carry this thing, please. Don't get up. It's as big and heavy as all seven Harry Potter books put together and not all bad for my already compromised back."

Jack rolled his eyes and took the book from the aged asshole and placed in on the counter. It was a big silver book with swirling designs on the front and one giant green glowing stone. Hannibal opened it and began skimming.

"What is this thing anyway?" Jack asked, annoyed.

"It's one-half of an ancient text," Hannibal replied. "This is called the Librum Virtute."

"The Book of Virtues?" Zane translated.

"Bingo-bango," Hannibal confirmed. "The other half is still lost. And that is an encyclopedia of all creepy-crawly magic. Together, they make a complete collection of all magic."

"Sounds like something you can't find in an average library," Mac replied. "Not one on Earth, at least."

"Well, this is kind of an old story," Hannibal began his lecture. "Anyone ever hear of Alara?"

Everyone nodded.

"Anyone here from Alara?" Hannibal asked in a cautious manner.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Oh, good," Hannibal breathed in relief. "I'd be sorry if you were. That place makes no sense right now."

"Well, some of us only really know through the cards and stuff," Mac spoke up. "What actually happened?"

(Youtube music: Dragon Civil War)

"War, my dear children," Hannibal smiled in a sinister way. "Old Planeswalkers, roughly twenty-five thousand years ago, back when Planeswalkers were almighty beings that stood shoulder-to-shoulder with beings that could create and destroy worlds. Their conflict tore Alara apart into five pieces. Class, can anyone name these pieces?"

"We're not in high school, ya old fuck," Becky replied.

"Humor me?" Hannibal asked.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"Bant," Luna started. "White with blue and green magic."

"Esper," Mary spoke up. "Blue with white and black."

"Grixis," Mac continued. "Black with blue and red."

"Jund," Hannah added. "Red with black and green."

"Naya," Jack finished. "Green with white and red."

"And in the middle," Zane replied. "was the raw entropy of the Maelstrom."

"Wasn't the result something called the Mending or something?" Becky asked.

"Yes, excellent team effort," Hannibal clapped slowly. Everyone had at least a slight desire to punch him. "The Mending, the release of power from the separation of the Shards of Alara, resulted in a strange ripple effect that worked its way through all the worlds. The most notable effect of this event is the stripping of Planeswalkers' powers. These god-like beings, used to being almighty and fluid in their strength and appearance, suddenly found themselves gasping for power and dependent on restraint as now, they had a set limit to their power, as all of you have clearly experienced in your last battle."

"You mean to say," Mac interrupted. "That if I had been born all that time ago, I could have been almighty and gotten all the Asian titties I wanted!?"

"Wha…?" Hannah stared at him, feeling sorta sad.

"Kid, if you had been born all those years ago, you would have probably been some sorta monkey ancestor, you would be trying and failing to get monkey titties, and you would have lived maybe fifteen years if you were lucky," Hannibal countered. "Now shut up. Where was I? Oh, yes. Powers. Stripped and limited. One of the unfortunate few was a big bad elder dragon named Nicol Bolas."

Everyone felt their neck and/or arm hair stand on end at the mention of Nicol Bolas.

"An anomaly he is, Nicol Bolas. Destroyed his own kind in a massive civil war and God knows how many countless others. He's a creature that exists to serve one purpose only his own. He even nearly destroyed the spirit dragon, Ugin, who apparently barely made it by with the help of an ally. But Bolas didn't care about that. He only wanted his power back after the Mending. So, he orchestrated events to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again."

"What?" Mary asked, thrown off.

"He wanted to shove all the Shards of Alara back together again," Hannibal clarified.

"Why would he want that?" Hannah asked. "I mean, it's wonderful that he wanted to put a broken world back together. But that sounds like the opposite of how bad you said he was."

"The power released from recreating Alara," Becky answered. "He thought it would restore him to his full power, didn't he? Please tell me he was wrong."

"He was both wrong and right," Hannibal continued. "The waves of magic released could have probably restored his power, if he could have gathered it all. No, all that power bled out into every other world. Including our own."

"Our world, Earth, or Terra, as it's often called, is in a system of celestial bodies comprised of other planets and star systems that keep the whole system in flux with their relationship through magic and gravity. Tell me, did the altar that Sathares pop out of like the world's slowest and angriest Jack-in-the-box have any symbols on it?"

"Yeah," Zane spoke up. "The symbol for Mars."

"Mars is the Roman deity of bloody war," Hannibal continued. "Aggression, anger, the masculine sex drive."

"Yowza," Mac added.

"As the energy from Alara rained down upon our solar system, it weaved in and around and through the celestial bodies, imbibing their power and nature, eventually reaching other areas and working through all three of its dimensions."

"Dimensions?" Mary asked. "Like spirit worlds and stuff?"

"Like heaven and hell," Luna responded.

"Heaven and hell are like pocket dimensions around Earth," Jack explained. "But humans can't enter either of them without…shedding their mortal flesh! MWAHAHAHA!"

"Your dramatism stems from a narcissistic place, doesn't it?" Hannibal commented on Jack's behavior. "Anyways, G.I. Jack is right. You gotta be dead to move on."

"You go to heaven if you lead a good life. A place with loads of natural white mana with some of the others, but no black and very little red," Zane replied, looking downwards with a sick-looking expression. "But if you sin, you go to hell. Which is, well, hell. Black, red, and a bit of blue mana. It's a place of endless torture and combat, where everything wrong you did in life comes back to destroy you."

Mary stared at Zane with intense concern, but then replied to Hannibal to change the subject. "What else? Did these powers turn into the demons when they went through hell?"

"I'm getting to that," Hannibal replied. "So, the powers that went through hell became focused into hellish demons that gained powers connected not only to the celestial bodies in space, but human nature itself."

"I JUST SAID THAT!" Mary exclaimed. "Sort of…"

"Okay, Hot Legs, but did you say that the powers that went through heaven picked up a complementary power and cascaded to Earth as these!?" Hannibal yelled back, picking up the seven blank cards and showing them to the heroes.

"Um…no…," Mary replied. "But it's a logical train of thought."

"Sure, sure," Hannibal smiled. "But look at this."

Hannibal turned the Librum around to face the seven of them. It showed a parchment picture of seven multi-colored angels of all different body types and sizes.

"Whoa," Mac was impressed. "Power Rangers Angel Force. Hey, you think that's why the city in the first Power Rangers was named Angel Grove?"

"Actually, that's not a bad deduction," Zane replied.

"Children, listen!" Hannibal yelled to get their attention. "These angels are embodiments of virtue. Hence the name of the book. This is a book of good and virtuous magic. Real boring stuff unless you're creative. Anyways, each card is an angel. You get me? And if you embody that virtue, you get better wings than Red Bull."

"Okay, but why hasn't anyone activated them?" Luna asked. "There are nice and virtuous people out there."

"'Cause, kiddo, you gotta embody that virtue after getting past your sins, according to some research. Plus, you gotta be magical, too. Unless you master magic to a certain level, control over angels like this ain't easy," Hannibal explained.

"What research?" Zane asked.

"Research done by your dad, Hunter," Hannibal replied in a low, mildly haunting voice. Zane stood up straight at this, his heart pounding harder. "Don't get all worked up. He traveled everywhere, researching this stuff. There's a big chest in the back with all his info in it and HEY!"

Zane ran into the back.

"THAT WASN'T AN INVITATION! GET BACK HERE!" Hannibal yelled after Zane.

Zane came back out, carrying a massive silver chest with designs and jewels matching the book, like a matching set.

"If this is my dad's research, it's rightfully my property," Zane announced. "And also, don't think I didn't notice the sneakily-taken polaroids of all your female customers, including the four ladies in the store."

Hannibal just chuckled, embarrassed at being caught. Luna walked over to the old man and gave him a painful flick on the head. Hannibal glared at her.

Zane placed the chest on the ground and examined it. It didn't seem to have any lock or keyholes. It also didn't seem to open.

"There's gotta be something," Zane muttered as he checked the whole chest. "You clearly got the book out of this chest and placed stuff inside. So how did you do it, Dad?"

The thing weighed a figurative ton. The rest of the group started helping out with the examination. Hannibal just looked on from afar, feeling irritated and anxious about the whole ordeal.

"It's an old chest," Becky examined. "The real age can't really be told because it's probably not…"

"From Earth," Mac finished. "Oh, sorry. From 'Terra.'"

"It's also clearly connected to the Librum Virtute," Jack continued. "They have the same designs."

"Maybe the clue to the keyhole in the designs," Luna offered.

Hannah walked over to the book and examined it, "It's built just like the chest. It doesn't seem to require a key to open. No keyhole. But it does have strange slot-like holes along the edges of the front cover, almost like…"

"A key card slot," Mary announced. "Not a key. A key card. Or seven." Mary pointed out seven slots placed along the bottom of the lid of the chest.

"Who says you're not a good detective?" Zane smiled at Mary, who couldn't help but blush. "I bet the keys are those blanks."

Zane looked at Hannibal, who refused to meet his eye. "Hannah, pass em over, please?"

Hannah obliged. Zane held them up. He wanted to put them in, but apprehension and anxiety held him back. What if what he found in there only hurt him? What if made things more difficult to deal with? Or worse, what if he felt nothing at all?

(Youtube music: Strong Bonds in Mind)

Suddenly, Luna's hand grabbed his own and she took a card.

"Wha…?" Zane looked at her, confused.

Jack took a card, followed by Mac. Then Mary, Becky, and Hannah.

"If you can't do it, we're not gonna stand around here forever to wait for this!" Mac complained.

"The tension is killing us!" Hannah added.

Zane shook his head at his team, but he couldn't help but smile.

"Then let's do this," Zane replied.

Hannibal watched on in apprehension as the seven of them put their cards into the slots. Suddenly, the cards began glowing a different color. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The glowing colors started spreading out from the slots through the lines of the markings and décor of the chest, converging upon the emerald in the middle and making it glow millions of different colors.

The surge of power and light emanating from the chest eclipsed all.

"Well, it was bound to happen," Hannibal whispered to himself. "The Hands of Heaven are back again. Damn you and your predictions, Zackary Hunter."

"This is freaking crazy!" Luna yelled. "Maybe I should have opted for transitions!"

"Tell your optometrist later if you don't go blind now!" Jack yelled back.

Suddenly, the lid popped up with a ding sound. The light show stopped immediately. Smoke poofed up from the chest. All of them slowly bent forward to look as the smoke cleared to reveal…

"Notebooks…," Becky summed up.

"We went through a big magical unveiling…for notebooks," Jack added.

"Well, Hannibal did say it was Zane's dad's research," Hannah offered.

"Well, maybe I've been playing too many video games," Mac spoke up. "But I expected like fancy scrolls and shit."

"Yeah, worn-down college-ruled notebooks doesn't exactly scream ancient magical knowledge, does it?" Mary replied, picking up a notebook. A small envelope fell out. Luna picked it up. On the front, in an untidy scrawl, was written the following:

To my son,

Zane Hunter,

in the event of my death or worse

Luna handed the letter to Zane. Zane stared at it with the same apprehension and anxiety as he did with the chest itself.

"Don't make us open that, too," Luna mused. "Seven hands holding one letter opener might not be the best idea."

Zane just smiled at this.

"Maybe it has more magic to it," Mac wondered. "Maybe it just needs a good smack in the ass!"

And Mac suddenly smacked the chest hard. Immediately and suddenly, a massive earthquake rattled through the town. The windows shook and the lights flicked on and off. As suddenly as it started, it ended.

"Oh, my God!" Mac yelled, clutching his face. "I didn't mean to end the world! I'm sorry, Mr. Zane's dad's chest! I'm sorry!"

"We're all gonna die!" Hannah exclaimed in return.

Becky smacked both of them in the head, Mac twice. "You idiots. It was just Tibalt and Sathares breaking free of Luna's ice cage and hammering the town again."

"Oh," both Mac and Hannah replied, then a couple of seconds later, they screamed in more horror. Becky smacked them again. Mac twice.

"We need to get going," Jack yelled.

"Wait," Becky spoke up. "Everyone hold hands."

"Becky, this isn't really the right time to develop feelings," Mac replied.

"Don't stop her!" Hannah warned. "This is a special moment!"

"I swear…the two of you…," Becky sighed. "Just do as I say."

The seven of them gathered in a circle and held hands. Becky closed her eyes and sighed. Suddenly, she began glowing blue and the glow spread to everyone. Everyone's mind began feeling strange. A mental expansion. A clarity. Becky opened her eyes and...

(See card: Telepathy)

"What just happened?" Luna asked.

"I linked everyone telepathically," Becky explained. "Now we'll be able to communicate without talking and over distances. Try it."

Everyone tried projecting thoughts out to test this.

 _Everyone here is nuts_ , Becky thought.

 _Amen, sister_ , Jack thought.

 _That includes you, jackass_ , Mary thought.

 _I can't have another peaceful thought again, can I?_ Zane thought.

 _You people…_ , Luna thought.

 _Odd Parents, Fairly Odd Parents. You'll flip your lid when you are the kid with Fairly_ _Odd Parents_ , Mac sang in his head.

 _Yeah, right_ , Hannah concluded it.

 _Wait, does this mean that whenever I think about Hannah naked, she'll know about it?_ Mac thought in alarm, then he realized what he just thought. He looked at Hannah, who was wide-eyed and blushing, mortified and shocked by the image that ran through her mind.

Becky sighed again, "With enough practice, you'll be able to control what you can transmit and what you keep in your mind."

Mac sighed in relief.

"Okay, this is awesome, but we really need to go!" Jack yelled and ran out. The team followed him out the door.

"We need a plan this time," Zane started to walk towards the door, but found his way blocked by a stern-looking Luna. "What? What's wrong?"

(Youtube music: All Our Days - Instrumental)

"Nothing," Luna replied. "It's just that, all this information we just found could have something to do with the demons and how to beat them. We don't have the bad magic book, so this our best bet."

"What are you trying to say?" Zane asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I'm saying, you need to stay here and figure out some stuff. How to beat Sathares and some…personal stuff," Luna answered.

"But I'm one your best offenses and your fastest team member!" Zane complained.

Luna put her hands on his shoulders and lowered her head. "Zane, please. I know I ask a lot of you all the time and I get bossy and that can be annoying. But please, just listen to me. These angels can only be activated if the people holding them have at least dealt with their issues. I know why you had a hard time fighting Sathares earlier. Please stay here and deal with that and hopefully find a way to beat them. I know you can do it. Please?"

Zane stared into his sister's big green eyes. Just like when they were kids, she had the ability to make him stop and consider his actions.

"Wrath," Zane spoke up. "That's my issue. I'm too hasty, too angry, too much. All the time."

Luna smiled and nodded. "And the opposite of wrath is patience. Promise me you'll stay here until you figure it out. After that, by all means, kick ass. We'll hold him off until you arrive."

Zane nodded. "Okay, but don't go hogging all the fun."

"All right, if you really plan on going through with your death wish," Hannibal added. "Take this."

He flicked a card to Luna, who caught it and looked at it.

"It's an old favorite," Hannibal added. "Might help."

"This is a bikini babe altered Island card!" Luna yelled at him.

"Huh!?" Hannibal looked alarmed. Then he ran over to her with surprising speed and grabbed the card. Then he replaced it with the real card. He grinned sheepishly and ran back to the counter.

Luna just rolled her eyes and ran off, leaving Zane behind with Hannibal.

"So…," Zane spoke up. "Patience, huh?"

"Kid, if your daddy's an indication of your genes," Hannibal replied. "We'll be here all week."

Zane sighed.

(Youtube music: Grimoire Heart OST)

The team found its way to the downtown location of Tibalt's imprisonment in ice. The dragon was halfway melted. Tibalt had just kicked off the last of the ice on his legs and looked absolutely furious.

As Fleety pulled into the area and the team got out, decked in their usual equipments and enchantments, Tibalt roared a massive animalistic roar. His wolf roar.

"That was the last time you ever do that to me!" he roared at Luna. "I'm gonna skin you alive and make Hunter watch!"

"Come and get me, tiny," Luna goaded him. Tibalt lunged at her but met Jack's fist before he could reach Luna.

(See card: Giant Growth)

Luna took a moment to pull five cards out of her pocket and placed them up her sleeve.

Tibalt got up and roared. A small quake occurred and a wave of devils swarmed out of the altar and raged towards the team and the buildings.

(See card: Scalding Devil)

(See card: Torch Fiend)

(See card: Vexing Devil)

(See card: Stone-Throwing Devil)

(See card: Rakdos Cackler)

(See card: Impetuous Devils)

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Luna. _Guys, what if there are still people trapped in the buildings?_

 _On it!_ Mary thought back.

 _I'll help!_ Hannah replied.

 _Becky, Mac, please help them,_ Luna delegated the task. _Jack and I will hold off Tibalt._

Luna flipped back further and further like an acrobat, dodging the claws and flames of the devils, leading them towards one spot when…FWUMP! FWUMP! FWUMP! Jack's arrows connected dead on and slaughtered a bunch of them on the spot.

Unfortunately, their energy was absorbed by the currently half-frozen Sathares. To add to that pile of bad news, the dragon demon shuddered in his cage as he absorbed the energy and caused massive cracks to appear in the solid subzero prison.

"Everything you do," Tibalt growled as he grinned a very toothy grin. "Even attacking me, will add to Sathares' power. So, c'mon!"

As Luna and Jack tried to battle Tibalt while minimizing the damage, Mac, Becky, and Hannah ran into the buildings. Racing through the place on Mac's Chariot of Victory, they opened door after door to find civilians cowering in fear, crying, bloody, and some on the edge of hysterics. Some were being tormented by devils, which were quickly disposed of, but many more scampered around, attacking people in every way possible.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

(See card: Chariot of Victory)

 _There's a lot of people_ , Hannah thought. _We need help!_

Hannah summoned a pair of Asian-looking brothers, each with very anime-like forward-sweeping, spiky hair, Japanese-looking armor, and two staffs. One had a red flame upon his staff. The other had a green one.

"Meet my favorite little friends! Riku and Riku! Together, they are Riku of the Two Reflections!" Hannah proudly announced.

(See card: Riku of the Two Reflections)

"Devils in the fray, brother, I say!" Red Riku mused.

"Then we shall hold them at bay today!" Green Riku mused right back.

"Please tell me they don't always rhyme," Becky groaned.

"I would, but I don't like lying," Hannah declared with the most innocent look on her face.

Becky and Riku handled a bunch of devils. Mac looked around and caught sight of one dragging a poor girl away. He ran up to the devil and slapped it. The devil lunged at him.

"Go!" Mac yelled and a gargoyle slammed into the devil before it could do any more damage and destroyed it.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Mac helped the girl up. The girl looked shocked up, but aware enough to notice her hero. She grabbed Mac's face and gave him a long kiss. Then she ran off.

"Oh…okay…that happened…," Mac muttered, stunned. He turned around to see Hannah looking red-faced and miffed with little tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Hannah, I…uh…that…uh…," Mac struggled to explain. Hannah humphed and walked off.

 _Damn it,_ Mac thought, aware that everyone heard it.

"Focus!" Becky yelled as she used her Bident of Thassa to blast the devils away from the people with pressurized jets of water. Red Riku replicated her spell to give her aid.

(See card: Bident of Thassa)

(See card: Hydrosurge)

Over by Hannah, the building was coming down. People screamed as a massive chunk of drywall debris fell towards Hannah, but she pulled up vines from the earth to reinforce the building. Green Riku helped out by replicating the Wall of Vines around the place to create a better system of organic buttresses and bulwarks around the building. The people ran out, valuing the precious time they had been given to escape.

(See card: Walls of Vines)

"How did you do that?" a man asked Hannah.

"By pulling green mana from the earth and channeling it through my body to up my friend, the Wall of Vines," Hannah explained in one breath.

"Oh…okay…," the man muttered, still confused. But he decided he'd rather not waste time.

Becky, Hannah, and Riku took care of the devils and got the people out of the rooms, after which Mac transported them outside to Mary, who used her jumbo-sized thopters to fly the people out of the place, while keeping the devils off them with her own Thopter Squadron.

(See card: Snare Thopter)

People watched in awed as the team tried to help despite the mounting level of devils in the area. Worst of all, all the energy from the destruction was sent to Sathares. Tibalt sat there, growling with a raspy breath, focusing on gathering the energy and keeping himself out of harm's way.

 _Can't we do something about that energy?_ Jack asked.

 _Not with the time and energy we have, but I'm hoping Zane comes back before that thing fully wakes up!_ Luna replied.

Three massive devils rose from the altar and roared with maws of molten lava at the couple, launching fireballs at them. Luna and Jack went back-to-back, with Luna blocking the hits and rotating with Jack who shot his arrows to block some fireballs before they even started.

(See card: Flayer of the Hatebound)

(See card: Divine Deflection)

 _We need more help_ , Luna spoke up and showed Jack Hannibal's card. _We need to use this spell. I already placed the cards down. This spell will help bring em out. Transfer me some power and I'll get it going._

(See card: Clarion Ultimatum)

Jack nodded and cracked his knuckles.

Luna thought out a message. _Zane, you're far away, but I hope you can hear this. We need your help!_

 _Ready?_ Jack asked.

 _Ready!_ Luna replied

Luna and Jack joined hands as ice and light formed over their hands, combining into a spectacular rainbow display.

"GO!" Luna and Jack yelled and thrust the power forward. It split into five lights. The one on the left turned into an angel with flowing white robes and a large sword. The one on the right turned into a green-armor clad angel with a large sword and shield. The three in the middle flew around each.

(See card: Empyrial Archangel)

(See card: Jenara, Asura of War)

 _Please, please, please, please, please!_ Luna pleaded.

"By the heavenly host of the herons," Jack started. "SIGARDA!"

"By the holy light of alabaster," Luna continued. "BRUNA!"

 _By the righteous blade of the golden night_ , Zane's voice rang the team members' heads, catching everyone by surprise. _GISELA!_

Suddenly, three columns of light burst down from the sky. Red, blue, and green. Tibalt was awestruck. Forms appeared in the columns of heavenly light. The light dissipated, revealing three beautiful and powerful angels. A blonde angel with a heron-shaped scythe and silver armor, Sigarda had a stern but calm expression on her face. A brunette angel with a staff and ribbon-like streaming robes, Bruna had a serene expression on her face. And lastly, a redheaded angel with four swords, two in hands, two in scabbards, leather and gold armor, Gisela had a fierce expression on her face.

(See card: Sigarda, Host of Herons)

(See card: Bruna, Light of Alabaster)

(See card: Gisela, Blade of Goldnight)

"YES! Zane heard me!" Luna exclaimed.

"Clarion Ultimatum," Gisela observed the spell that was just used by the couple. "Not bad, kids."

"Very well done," Bruna added.

"Ready to serve, sir!" Sigarda affirmed.

Jack yelled, "Kick devil booty!"

The five angels flew into battle with Luna and Jack behind them. Tibalt roared. Sathares absorbed power and released it at the angels.

In Hannibal's wrecked shop, Zane suddenly sat down, breathing hard.

"What's the matter with you?" Hannibal asked. "You think yourself into exhaustion or am I just too much for ya to be around?"

"I just transported a very powerful creature to help the team," Zane gasped. "Excuse me for having a limit to my power and respiratory system."

Hannibal just scoffed at this and rolled his eyes while moving stuff around.

Zane continued staring at his father's letter. The envelope was general store-bought brand and had been written a good while ago considering the stamp was from October 30th, 1992, roughly a year after Zane was born. The writing was by a ball-point pen, also generic. He picked up whatever he had around to write this. Short on time, most likely.

Zane sighed and pulled out a wolf claw from his index finger. Cautiously aware of Hannibal watching him, He sliced open the top of the envelope and pulled out a piece of printer paper folded into thirds. He opened it up and a card fell out. Zane looked at the card with a grim expression. He knew this card. It was rare, but he could have gotten one anytime. He was just…avoiding it. Like he was avoiding his father. He read the letter. It was written in the same style as the envelope and with the same pen.

(Youtube music: Shukumei)

Dear Zane,

I understand that by the time this letter reaches you, you may have outgrown your memory of me or your desire to be affiliated with me, for that matter. Nevertheless, it is important that I tell you that I never intended to hurt you or your mother. My disappearance was a necessity. Of course, the reasons behind it aren't ones I can explain to you easily. The world is in trouble and I needed to find a way to preserve it. If anything, I needed to save it for you. I don't expect you to understand but I hope you can at least look past my faults and forgive me. And another hope, I know that your mother will have trained you well by now, perhaps instilled a sense of justice that I hope you carry with you. I know you're angry. At your age, I was angry, too. With my father, with myself, with the whole world. But that's not really you. Anger is a shield against the truth. When you know what must be done to be yourself, you immediately shed anger. Who are you, Zane? Answer that, and you can win every battle. Please remember that.

Love,

Your father

P.S.: The card I have enclosed is a treasure of mine. I know you can use it well. In case you ever need to find your way back from the darkness.

Zane felt his eyes burn along with his mind. A million thoughts raced as his inquisitive mind picked apart the letter and found little meanings. But none of that was important right now. Right now, the only important thing was that his friends, his family, were out there, battling for their city and their life. He needed to help. Because that's who he was.

 _I'm the leader of this team. And I protect people_ , Zane thought. _I protect my family!_

Zane was about to leave when Hannibal cleared his throat. Zane turned around to see the old man staring at him with a surprisingly bold and defiant look.

"Is the card activated?" Hannibal asked.

Zane looked down a blank piece of paper and ink. "Nope. But I don't care. My friends need help. I can deal with being patient later. They don't have that luxury."

"Pretty sure I'm not supposed to let you leave, on the orders of the cute one with glasses," Hannibal replied.

"Uh…huh," Zane tried to fight the urge to punch Hannibal out for hitting on his sister. "Anyways, the 'cute one' also needs my help and she and the rest of my friends, including the woman of my dreams are out there, barely making it. So, if your smelly alcohol-soaked ass doesn't mind, I'm gonna…"

Zane is immediately stopped midsentence as something massive hits him straight in the chest, throwing him back and knocking him on his ass. His ready hands where the only thing that blocked a massive pair of silvery spectral pincers attached to a similar beetle, which was…

"This thing's the size of a fucking tank!" Zane groaned under the pressure.

"Soul Surges are pretty easy once you get the hang of it," Hannibal mused. "Sorry, kid, can't let you go until I'm sure you can deal with this."

"You rat bastard!" Zane groaned, feeling his heartbeat increasing rapidly as his hands struggled to stop the beetle from slicing him in half. His claws grew out from his fingers, spurting blood over his hands. His pupils turned to slits.

"You little kids these days," Hannibal mused. "You think you're the so cool with words like da man, da bomb, da…beast?"

As the pressure built in his arms and mind, he let out a roar. Not an angry person roar. An animal's roar…one that shook the windows and made birds fly off in fear.

(See card: Resounding Roar)

Red energy burst from Zane as the red spectral wolf appeared and fought back the beetle.

"How did you use a green spell!?" Hannibal exclaimed.

Zane stood and began growling as he breathed in and out.

"So, he awakens," Hannibal smiled. He had a manic look in his eyes. "All right then!"

Hannibal threw his arms up. The earth cracked open as a pair of strange insectoids roughly the size of a park bench burst from the ground and immediately launched into the air.

Right behind them was an even bigger insect about the size of an SUV. The big one went airborne as well. They all grew large scythe-like appendages and spikes from their bodies that were blowing gusts that propelled them into the air.

(See card: Pulmonic Sliver)

(See card: Bonescythe Sliver)

(See card: Sliver Hivelord)

"Slivers…," Zane growled.

"Damn right," Hannibal smiled. "The most versatile, enduring, and lively of all creatures. Supporting each other and growing together. Like a real team. They share their strengths."

"But also, weaknesses," Zane replied.

"Hmmm?" Hannibal's paranoia and interest were piqued.

Zane put on his Lightning Greaves and Angelic Armaments. "Bring it, old man," Zane challenged him.

(See card: Lightning Greaves)

(See card: Angelic Armaments)

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

"Go!" Hannibal commanded the Slivers. Zane dodged a quick swipe from the Bonescythe Sliver, sinking his hands into the ground and drawing a sword with two blades, a shining white blade and a fiery red blade. His left hand, however, held a small rusty sickle.

(See card: Sword of War and Peace)

(See card: Blight Sickle)

"What the hell is that?" Hannibal asked. "Did you grab a farm tool?"

"Yeah, I did," Zane replied. "The farm was located in Shadowmoor."

"Aww…fuck…," Hannibal grumbled. "It can bypass indestructibility."

Zane parried all three scythes away with the blade, using its protective powers to keep the Slivers at bay. He jumped around them at high speed, his predatory instincts giving him an amazing view of the world. He could not only see his enemies coming, but he could hear their heartbeats. He could smell their sweat and adrenaline. He could even taste the air around him change as the Slivers came at him. Everything slowed down and SHWIIING!

He sliced the Pulmonic Sliver with the sickle, cracking through its supposedly indestructible shell. It crashed to the ground. Zane then swung around stabbed the Bonescythe Sliver, reducing it to the same sorry state. Then he jumped up and shot straight at the Sliver Hivelord, spinning as he did, and bored a hole straight through the massive insect. Zane stopped spinning and screeched to halt on the ground.

"Probably should have warned you about my Rampage ability. It's an inborn skill that allows me to gain more power for each thing I face," Zane announced.

"Then you're just like your father," Hannibal groaned, defeated. "Fantastic."

"Listen, I get it," Zane replied. "You gotta make sure I'm good enough to fight that demon, but honestly, I don't have the time to waste. I was angry at myself for not being good enough fast enough."

"Understandable…," Hannibal sighed.

"If my father taught me anything just now is that I'm not gonna get better by twiddling my thumbs here. I gotta go and fight. I gotta trust myself and my team. It's the only way I can win."

"Just like that? You think you can just win?"

"Just like that. I know typically I'm supposed to learn some fundamentally cliché lesson and suddenly get better and activate the damn card, but honestly, I feel that part of being patient is setting realistic expectations and being a problem-solver."

"Instead of a damn victim," Hannibal agreed. "Get the hell out of here, kid. And give that demon a taste of your holy metal, Hands of Heaven style."

(Youtube music: Strong Bonds in Mind)

Zane smiled and nodded. Suddenly, the card in his pocket began glowing brightly. He dropped the sickle into the ground and pulled out the angel card and it suddenly took the full appearance of a real card.

"Azrience, the Justice Armor," Zane read the name. "All right then. I'm outta here! And I get it Hannibal. You took me on to teach me that lesson. You're an annoying, creepy, pervy, drunk, chain-smoking jackass, but your heart's in the right place. Thanks, old man. I'll see you sometime soon."

Zane runs out. Hannibal sighed and walked back to his dilapidated shop, "Yeah…sure…whatever you wanna believe. I'm gonna go do more of that drinking, smoking, and jacking off you sorta mentioned. And sure, come back to visit…if you live, that is." He cackled in glee as he disappeared to the back with the Librum Virtute.

Zane ran at top speed with his new card in one hand and the Sword of War and Peace in the other.

 _I need to get there now,_ Zane thought. _But am I even fast enough? What if they're getting beat now. I gotta gain more speed!_

Suddenly, he felt weight shift on his back and looked behind him. The shield on his back had changed. The wings had grown bigger and taken on a metallic, angular appearance. He could still spread them like they were attached to him. He smiled. Azrience was taking effect.

He gathered more and more speed until he spread his wings and flew at jet speed.

(Youtube music: Eisenwolf)

The five angels were having an impossible time, barely keeping themselves and their casters alive. The demon was almost at full power and had reduced most of the area to an unrecognizable mess. Sounds of sirens pierced the air along with the army's attempts at using artillery fire epically failing to pierce the corroded and ravaged bastion of destruction surrounding the battlefield. Devil corpses covered the area, damaged and burned to the point of blending in with the debris. Devils still ran rampant in the area.

Luna and Jack groaned and breathed hard, both of them running low on energy. Their defensive spells and the small army of angels was being brought to their knees by a roaring Tibalt and his demon.

Jenara and Empyrial Archangel had to fall back as Gisela, Bruna, and Sigarda had to pull all the defensive tools at their disposal to block Sathares' blast of hellfire. Their shields crumbled as they barely blocked Tibalt's black lightning blasts, surging out of his hands which were wearing the Fists of the Demigod.

(See card: Bituminous Blast)

(See card: Fists of the Demigod)

"Those fists will wither through our shields," Jenora commented.

"And then us," Empyrial Archangel replied.

"Jenara! Archangel! Go back home! Please!" Luna yelled. The two angels nodded and reluctantly disappeared.

"Why did you send them back?" Jack asked.

"I didn't want them to die," Luna answered.

"That demon doesn't move until it attacks," Jack observed. "It just stands there."

"It's not powerful enough," Luna guessed. "Maybe it hasn't fully manifested. We have to kill it before it does."

"This demon is impossible!" Sigarda yelled.

"Nothing like what we have on Innistrad!" Bruna replied. "Even Griselbrand and Ormendahl were easy compared to this!"

(See card: Griselbrand)

(See card: Ormendahl, the Profane Prince)

"It's still a demon!" Gisela countered. "And we're still angels! We have to do our job! Go!"

Tibalt pounced at them as they prepared to charge and…SCHWIIIING!

Tibalt was suddenly impaled against the wall of his own altar. Zane twisted his Sword of War and Peace, which was embedded through Tibalt's chest and into the altar. Zane's pupils turned to slits. The sword released a blast of power that added injury to insult, while restoring Zane's strength.

"Hunter!" Tibalt groaned, then smiled. "Where have you been?"

"Miss me?" Zane replied. "Doing some soul-searching. You know how that feels? Wait, do you even still have a soul?"

"Zane!" Luna yelled in happy surprise. "What are you wearing?"

"So, you got a fancy new pair of wings," Tibalt observed. "What's it called? 'Sparkle Fairy Wings?'"

"Azrience," Zane smiled.

Tibalt's taunting smile turned into fear. He kicked Zane off. Zane flew back, the sword being pulled out of Tibalt's chest.

"It's about time you got in!" Gisela yelled. "Where the hell have you been!?"

"Researching how to chicken-fry your wings extra crispy!" Zane yelled back. "Now shut the fuck up!"

At this moment, the rest of the team ran in.

"We got all the people out and WHOA!" Mac stopped in his tracks at the sight of Zane's new digs. "What artifact is that?"

"Is that your angel?" Jack deduced.

"Or part of it…?" Mary offered.

"It's an artifact?" Hannah asked.

"Makes sense for an artificer!" Becky shrugged.

"It's my angel," Zane spoke up. "And probably the best artifact I've ever owned. You guys cool with letting me handle this? Get involved if I need it, but otherwise…"

"Go for it," Luna nodded.

(Youtube music: Driving with the Top Down - Iron Man)

Zane walked towards Tibalt and Sathares. Tibalt smiled maniacally.

"Sathares!" Tibalt commanded. "Attack!"

Sathares released a blast of hellfire. Zane pulled his wing shield from his back and used it to block the blast.

The shield began glowing. Zane knew this was the right time but he had to hope the angel knew.

 _Please, please, please, please, please!_ Zane thought frantically.

Suddenly, the shield opened up. Gears and metal pieces covered Zane's arm and chest. Red and gold armor pieces unfolded placed themselves all over Zane's body. A helmet covered his head and face entirely. A magical display in front of his face showed everything in front of him and in his periphery. The armor released its power and reflected the blast towards Tibalt, who had to put his fists to block it, sending him reeling back into the altar with a nasty crunch.

(See card: Boros Fury Shield)

"That…is…beautiful…," Mary gasped. "Fucking sexy."

"He's like a wolf-themed Iron Man," Mac observed.

"Which makes perfect sense for Zane," Luna deduced. "It's like the angel knew what Zane wanted."

Azrience stood tall and proud, a red, silver, and gold metal warrior with massive golden wings. A circular emblem in the middle was lit up like a headlight with a Mars symbol on it.

"This shit's gonna have nuts in it," Zane spoke up and flew towards Tibalt. His armor's visual display brought up an aiming system. Barrels popped out of his arm armor. Blasts of laser fire rained upon the devils, destroying them. Then a pair of disproportionately big missiles popped out of his shoulders and shot at Sathares, making contact. When the smoke cleared, Sathares was missing most of his wings and groaning in pain.

"Whoa, it's like the armor is a full-body hammerspace zone," Jack exclaimed, impressed.

Tibalt suddenly leaped on to Azrience and punched pieces of the armor off. Zane tried to fight, but Tibalt grabbed his arm and crunched it inwards. Tibalt ripped off the armor as Zane's arms were busy.

"Zane, no!" Luna yelled and flew up. As Tibalt punched the middle emblem, Luna grabbed Zane's exposed head and used her minimal energy to teleport him out and to the ground. Tibalt struggled with the still-airborne suit of armor as his fist was stuck in the chest. Zane snapped his fingers and the armor exploded in Tibalt's face. Tibalt fell to the ground, covered in nasty burns.

(See card: Teleport)

(See card: Shrapnel Blast)

"Nice job," Luna spoke up. "But what about your armor now?"

"Watch!" Zane replied and jumped up. A new armor, identical to the first one appeared out of thin air and placed itself over Zane.

"Okay, now he's just showing off," Becky commented.

Zane jetted towards Sathares, who roared at him. Zane went straight into the demon dragon's mouth and drilled all the way to the tail. Sathares fell and crumpled to the ground, a dead look in its eyes. It dissolved into shadows and dissipated as the altar did the same, leaving a massive hole in the ground. Tibalt seemed to have sunken down with all of it. Zane flew high and proud over the area. His team looked at him in relief and admiration.

A crash in the distance pulled everyone's attention. The military had finally broken through. Somehow, civilians were also piling back in.

"Uh-oh," Mary reacted. "We oughta bail."

"You guys go," Zane replied. "I'll distract them."

"You sure?" Mac asked. "What will you tell them?"

"Enough of the truth," Zane answered. "Go!"

Most of the team left in Fleety as people surrounded Zane. The military tried to keep people back, but a little girl came up to Zane.

"Excuse me, sir," she asked. "Are you an angel? What's your name?"

Zane uttered one word, "Azrience."

As all the people stared in awe and took pictures, Zane saw a man, tall and dressed in black with dark sunglasses. The man smiled and left the spot. Zane didn't like the way he smelled.

Like bureaucracy.

Back in the treehouse base, everyone celebrated. Marilyn and Sam had come by to check up on their kids.

"YOU DON'T CALL ME AND YOU JUST DO THIS THING AND FIGHT THIS DEMON! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE A NEW ANGEL OR YOU ACTIVATED YOUR CARDS AND STUFF! YOU NEED TO CALL ME!" Marilyn yelled at them.

Zane and Luna hugged their mother.

"Mom, do you ever miss my dad?" Zane asked.

Marilyn was taken by surprise by this, but she knew they needed to talk.

The family talked the events through, after which, the parents left.

Zane went to his room and thought hard about the whole day. Too much happened and there was no way this was the end of it. His head began hurting as visions returned to him. Blood, fire, screaming, pain, so much pain…

Suddenly, his train of thought was broken by a knocking on his door. He opened to see Mary standing there.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Just really tired."

"Well, duh, you kinda saved the world."

"Well, I didn't do it alone. Thanks for being there."

"Hey, I was just helping my team. And besides, if something happened to you and I couldn't help…I…just…especially since the full moon is in a week or so…"

Zane hugged her, surprising her, but then she closed her eyes and sank into his arms. When they let go, Mary asked her nagging thought.

"Hey, after what Tibalt and Hannibal said, I couldn't help but wonder…"

(Youtube music: Stop, I'm Already Dead)

"If I had ever been to Hell? Yeah, once."

"Oh, wow. Yeah, that's…I don't know what to say to that…"

"No one does. Not really. Some that do have no idea what they're talking about."

"Are you okay?"

"I think so. I'm just gonna nap."

"Okay, I'll be here until dinner, so let's do something after your nap."

"Yeah, sure, play a game. Watch a movie. A movie about a game."

"Yeah!" Mary smiled and walked off.

Zane closed the door and immediately felt sick. He felt drugged. Like the day's exhaustion just hit him all at once. Was this a panic attack? It felt worse. He walked, detached from the world, to his bed and found himself unable to find it. He couldn't see clearly. He fell with a big thud. He scrambled to get up.

KNOCK! KNOCK! "Zane! Are you okay?" Luna yelled.

Zane mumbled incoherently.

The door crashed opened. Jack and Luna's arms grabbed him and pulled him up. He reeled towards the restroom and fell over the sink. He could see Mary's concerned face behind his sister and friend's reflections. His friends' yells sounded distant and incoherent to him as he looked at himself. He scleras turned black. His nose was dripping with blood, which was covering his entire mouth and spilling into the sink.

And he was out.


	7. Chapter 7 - Domain - Part 1

**Chapter 7 - Domain**

October 5th, 10:00 a.m., all times are rough approximations

Buddies workouts were always a blast for Zane and Luna, especially when they got stronger. And as two very powerful angelic Planeswalkers, they always got stronger. But this time, it wasn't training for fun.

Zane ran around the quarter-mile track that formed the circumference of the football field at his old high school, his Gryffindor sweatpants and t-shirt whipping around his lean yet strong frame as he made lap after lap at record time, managing to bypass the average vehicle speed in a city environment. Jack timed him as Luna looked over at the watch repeatedly with excitement and anxiety.

"What's the time? What's the time!?" Luna asked, bouncing on her tiptoes, her hair bouncing along with her…among other things.

"Oh, my God!" Jack yelled back. "Will you relax?"

Zane came to a stop and then ran to over to them. "What's the time? What's the time!?"

"Yeah, no one can argue that you two are related," Jack replied.

Zane and Luna both roll their eyes.

"Two and half minutes for one mile. You are twice as fast as Usain Bolt," Jack summarized.

Luna whooped. But Zane didn't look excited.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

"Tibalt can cover ten meters in an eighth of a second," Zane explained. "I checked the math. That's twenty seconds to run a mile at his top speed."

"As a wolf," Luna countered. "But yeah, that's still a lot."

"You will basically double in speed when you transform in like how many days?" Jack asked.

"Roughly nine and a half hours," Luna answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Oh shit," Jack realized. "Yeah, you need to train more."

Zane gave him a sarcastic smile. "And worst of all, I still can't beat him on my own."

"What?" Luna shot back. "But last time, you beat him…"

"With my angel and your help," Zane countered. "Time before that, I had Mary. Before that…well…"

"That bites," Jack replied, then pulled out his phone and a pair of headphones out of his jacket pocket. "Can I go back to my games now?"

"No! We brought you here to help us," Luna bossed Jack and turned to Zane. "If you need to beat him on your own so bad, then we train to get you faster."

"Right," Zane agreed. "But what about you?"

"What about me?" Luna asked.

"I just noticed a few things lately," Zane replied. "I know you're Hexproof and all, but that only works if you're on your guard or blocking a single hit at a time. Widespread blasts bypass your defenses."

"So, what? Should I learn better defenses?" Luna inquired.

"Actually, what if you learn a strong offense to launch a preemptive strike before their move?" Jack offered.

"Exactly, like I got a lot of fire and blasts and stuff. Plus, I can breathe fire," Zane explained.

"Yeah, I don't have the tempered throat and lungs needed to do that," Luna replied. "Or did you forget that I didn't spend my entire childhood screaming fireballs at people?"

"Okay, smartass, you did spend it chewing ice," Zane shot back. "So, take this."

Zane pulled a card out of his pocket and tossed it to Luna.

(See card: Icy Blast)

Luna looked at it with a healthy dose of initial skepticism, but then realized…

"This could be fun," Luna smiled.

Zane held out his hand and released four blasts of light that hit the ground. Each place the light touched gave birth to a small, metal, bipedal creature.

(See card: Master's Call)

"Myr Tokens?" Jack asked. "Wouldn't Thopters be more useful in a fight?"

"Myrs are good for starting out. You're not trying to use Icy Blast to destroy them, but to subdue them. In a fight, you may destroy the target after freezing them solid in a way much more effective than Ice Cage," Zane replied. "Besides, Thopters are Mary's shtick. Anyways, ready?"

Zane and Jack cleared out of the way. Luna stretched a bit and took a few deep breaths.

"Focus the power from your belly and lungs," Zane instructed.

Luna thought hard about the mana flowing from the sun and the nearby river that neighbored the school, white and blue mana that flowed in towards her, up her feet and legs, through her spine and into her core, welled up in her chest and…POOF!

She had pulled back and puffed her cheeks out to the max, reddening them in the process, and then released only to produce a small flurry. She stomped in an impatient frustration that was much more characteristic of her brother.

"This might take a while," Jack summed up, attempting to pull out his phone and headphones in the process. Zane immediately confiscated them. Jack hung his head in disappointment and sniffed.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 8)

I. Chotto yogoreta SUUTSUKEESU wo motte

Nani mo shirazu ni sora kara orita

Chizu no mukou, koko ni sanjou

Yume ni mita akogare no basho

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Oh baby JANJAN kabe norikoeyou with my guitar

Todoku made oh yeah utaou Just music sore dake de

Kimi ni sasageru yo oh yeah

MAJI de kyoutsuuten no hou ga ooi nchau no? with my guitar

Sagashinagara yea utaou, just love tada sore dake de,

Oikake get free?! My perfect dream!

Yea Yea Yea

The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

Ne teru toki mo

Oki teru toki mo

Yume wo mikata ni shiyo yo Yea

II. Along with a little dirty suitcase,

I descended from the sky.

Across the map, it called me here,

the place I've longed and dreamed for.

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

Oh baby, strum strum, I'll overcome the walls with my guitar.

Reaching far, oh yeah, I'll sing.

Just music, that's all,

I dedicate it to you, yeah.

Seriously, don't we have so much in common? With my guitar,

let's search, yeah, and sing.

Just love, only just that,

chasing to be free!? My perfect dream.

yea yea yea The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

When I'm sleeping, when I'm awake, I support my dreams.

I wanna believe the singing on beat,

most recently is like recess for me.

Pretty pretty please, no birds and the bees,

but ecstasy with extra cheese.

Rhyming rhino sounding like bono,

all smacked up with a black jack bottle.

When I say "ho", you say "hey"

You don't understand what I'm saying, huh?

III. Team shot

Superimposed shots of members

Logo

Montague's castle

Zane vs. Tibalt

Luna vs. Tamara

Mac and Hannah run from baddies

Becky vs. baddies

Mary and her Thopters

Jack vs. Montague

Montague rages with power

Montague's demon

Zane, Luna, and Jack, ready to fight

Allies

Zane and Luna fly down with angel wings

Battle scenes.

Team shot

Logo

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Magic Council Theme)

In the dead center of the most thriving business area of town, located at the cusp of the coastal area and downtown and spitting distance from where Tibalt tried to raise Sathares, a meeting was taking place in City Hall.

"Nothing!" a well-seasoned politician raged. "The military, police, any medical or fire rescue squads could do nothing!"

"Councilman Cletus!" Calibos Soul pleaded. "Please! I assure you! We had help down there! A PSMP agent, my own daughter, Mary Orfilia Soul, was down there!"

"Her and at least six other unidentified people," Cletus countered. "And aside from the name you've just provided us, there is only one other name that we have. Azrience."

Calibos grimaced and cracked his knuckles at the mention of this name.

"Commissioner Soul," Cletus continued. "You've had two chances already. Your massive space station looks over the entire planet and yet, many unexplainable incidents that fall into your supposed jurisdiction go unsolved. Like that incident involved that destroyed cards and comics store. Plus the streets around the store. And then there was the Home Depot sinkhole. And the carnival. And then this. People now know this magical stuff exists, Soul. Your pathetic organization in on its last legs. But I'll give you one more chance. Tonight, I will draft a bill that will disband the Planar-Spatial Magical Police if you have one more failure. All in favor?"

Almost all of the councilmen and women had their hands raised. Calibos sighed.

"Fair enough," Calibos conceded. "Your generosity is appreciated."

Cletus looks into Calibos' lightless eyes and plastic expression. Calibos looked too calm.

"Meeting adjourned," Cletus growled.

Corbin Cletus finally managed to get home and drudged into his darkened room.

"Sorry, I'm late, dear," Cletus groaned. "I hate early morning council meetings, but I took the rest of the day off and now, we can…huh?"

Cletus looked around to see his wife's silhouette, propped up on a couch and evident only through the light streaming into the room through the space between the closed blinds.

Suddenly, the blinds swished open by their remote control, casting a strong and direct stream of light into the center of the room, doing very little to illuminate the room. Cletus' wife sat there, looking like a doll, dead-eyed and still. Suddenly, her head rolled off!

"Matilda! What-?"

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

"Sorry, Councilman, but she was really bugging me in my downtime," a female voice came from the bed.

Cletus glanced over there to see a pair of tan legs lying on the bed, revealed by the light entering the room. The lady curled her legs in and got off the bed. She began walking towards Cletus.

"She gave me all this bullshit about 'breaking and entering' this and 'calling the cops' that. Honestly, I just wanted to freshen up for you, sweetie. So I showered and used your whirlpool tub, too. Oh, and I killed your wife. She was being stupid."

"You…you…what are you…?" Cletus stammered.

"Tamara Titus," she replied. "Calibos Soul sends his regards."

"What!? That bastard!" He grabbed his phone and began dialing. "Just wait till I call the cops and-ACK!"

Before he could press the call button, claw-shaped vines pierced his designer suit. Pressure like something ramming into his body all concentrated on that one raced through his nerves. Once he realized what had happened, and the pain began, it was too late. Councilman Corbin Cletus fell to the floor.

(See card: Claws of Wirewood)

Tamara pulled her nails in and stared at Cletus apathetically. Tamara looked at the married couple in a curious manner, but then decided, "Too old for me."

Washing the blood off her nails and sadistically placing Mrs. Cletus' head back on her body, she grinned like a disturbed child in a room full of small insects and lizards that were unable to move. She donned her clothes back on, choosing to wear a black leather skirt instead of her usual jeans today, then walked off. Before she knew it, as if by working her way through the shadows, she was walking through the crypt of her overlord and superior.

"My lord," Tamara bowed before her master. Nicol Bolas made a low growl. It wasn't an angry growl. It was a tolerant one.

Tamara rose and turned to face another being in the cave. The tall and pale figure of Calibos Soul, resting by the entrance, hidden in the shadows but still apparent.

"I cleaned up your goddamn mess today, Calibos," Tamara shot at him. "Do me a fucking favor and actually do some shit so it looks like your high and mighty position in law enforcement looks somewhat necessary to the meaty idiots up there."

Calibos chuckles through a closed mouth. "Tamara, dear me. Please tell me you don't kiss your victims with that mouth. I have the perfect set-up for what I'm planning. Corbin Cletus was but a speed bump. I just needed to make sure I still had my resources until…oh…the last week of the month…ish."

"What's happening then?" Tamara asked.

"Hehehe…stuff…," Calibos chuckled. He looked over at Bolas, bowed, and left.

Tamara made to follow him out. "You little…"

"Tamara," Bolas growled. "Cease."

(Youtube music: Dragon King)

(See card: Constricting Tendrils)

Suddenly, blue tendrils of energy swirled out of the ground and grabbed her, swirling around her and grabbing her. The tendrils worked around her joints and major body parts, her ankles, knees, pelvis, her stomach, much of her chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, neck, and mouth, gagging her. The tendrils pulled her back and up to Bolas' chest height. Her eyes filled with tears as her heart rate shot through the roof as she came up to the ornate, golden, armor-like scales of her master. His calculating and ancient gaze pierced into her mind as his cruel green eyes searched over her terrified green ones. At this height and proximity, she could make out the pattern of his horns, see the swirl of colors in the floating gem in between those horns, and count every razor-sharp serrated tooth sticking out of that sarcastic smile.

 _Is that a smile? Do dragons smile? Why am I thinking about this right now!?_ Tamara's mind rushed.

"Tamara Titus, my willing slave," Bolas growled. "Do you not realize what a grand position you're in? Tibalt is out-of-commission since being defeated by Zane Hunter. Calibos is busy deluding himself. And Montague…"

Both Bolas and Tamara looked to her right to see Montague laying on a rock, snoring.

"…is Montague," Bolas concluded. "And the other three are in their place. But you are special. Able-bodied and compliant. So here's what you will do. Find a domain. Stake your claim. Prepare the sacrifices. And release it."

Tamara's tear-and-fear-filled eyes widened to a diameter seemingly beyond normal human ability.

The tendrils disappeared and Tamara fell. She shot out her vines and managed to slow her fall, landing on her feet, but she lost her balance and collapsed on the floor.

"Master, what if I don't complete the sacrifice?" she sobbed. "What if I can't summon it in time and…"

"Then use yourself," Bolas chuckled. "You're a hormonal being made of soft flesh. You'll do. Now leave."

Tamara got up, cleaned off her face, and bowed to Bolas. Then she left. She was thinking too much. Fearing too much. This is what she signed up for. This was Bolas' deal. Her life for her service. But what if her service led to her death?

She shook the thought out of her head. Before she knew it, she was out of the crypt the same way she had entered. She was now in an alleyway, still thinking too much. Suddenly, voices distracted her. She came to a stop.

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

"Hey, lady, you going somewhere nice?" a guy asked. "Mind if I come?"

"You like white hair, bro?" another voice asked.

"Hells yeah, platinum blonde with legs as long as days? Why not?"

Tamara smiled and looked back at them with a malevolently pleased look on her face.

"Uh," one of the guys realized the mistake. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a creep. I just…"

POW! Tamara's arm stretched out and collided with the guy's face, sandwiching it in-between a brick wall and her own fist. His head exploded, spraying blood in every direction.

(See card: Savage Punch)

"What the hell?" his friend screamed. But Tamara grabbed him by the neck with her stretchy arm and lifted him up.

"Tell me, oh stupid pervert," Tamara mused. "What place in this city would you say has the most attractive people in it at any given time? A big place with lots of rooms and water and life?"

"I dunno! Maybe the mall!" the man practically screamed. "No, wait! The community college is huge! And it has a pool!"

"Lovely…," Tamara cooed. Then, she opened her mouth and lunged. The poor guy could only scream and even that was reduced to bloody squelching.

Tamara cleaned up and walked to Arcane Community College. Walking in, she scoped out the people.

"Wow, lots of pretty people. I like pretty flesh," she mused, touching the walls and layering spells into the building.

(See card: Wild Instincts)

She walked all the way to the pool. She stripped off her clothes and tossed them off with little regard. She jumped into the pool and began exuding a dark aura. The water began boiling. As multiple spells were cast, vines grew out of the pool and quickly took over. Within minutes the vines grew over the whole college. People tried to run in panic but…

(See card: Reclaiming Vines)

(See card: One with Nature)

(See card: Primeval Bounty)

(See card: Seek the Wilds)

(See card: Abundant Growth)

(See card: Sprouting Vines)

"None of the rooms make any sense!" a man yelled. "The lunchroom is over here and the quad is…where's the quad!?"

Reforming the whole college by moving rooms, Tamara managed to confuse and frighten all the people.

"Raging hormones," she sighed. "Delicious raging hormones!"

Unbeknownst to Tamara, Sam Claus stood at the top floor, surveying the area.

He searched the place up and down, using all his senses barring his taste to check everything.

"Big pile of coal for you…," he mused.

He heard a screeching and turned around to see a dark shadow leap at him.

(See card: Graverobber Spider)

(Youtube music: Wizards in Winter - Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Jumping back and back further with the agility of a much younger man, he parried the shadowy creature's swipes with his own punches until it had him cornered.

"You know, I always tell my kids one simple thing," Sam calmly told the spider. "It doesn't matter who starts a fight, but you always should be the one to end it."

Sam released a massive green blob to surround the spider and both the ooze and the spider disintegrated and sank into the ground.

(See card: Yule Ooze)

"Well, looks like I might need help after all," he smiled. "Now…I wonder how the kids are doing…"

12:30 p.m.

Two and a half hours of huffing and puffing and Luna had reduced a goalpost, most of the track, half the football field, Zane's left arm, and all but Jack's head and left leg to popsicles. Basically, everything except the myrs.

Luna plopped on the ground, out of breath and very red-faced. Zane smashed the ice on his arm against a goalpost to crack it open and free himself.

"Okay, enough on power. You built up enough power," Zane concluded. "Let's work on aim."

Jack waddled to the goalpost and began clanging it to gradually free himself.

Luna sighed. "You know, you're asking me to do what you can do after twenty or so years of practice. I was a newborn when you started learning magic."

"Yeah, but I could breathe fire day one," Zane explained as Jack continued to clang away. "I'm just asking you to get started. And maybe not turn the school into a walk-in freezer."

"You're hilarious," Luna rolled her eyes.

"I know," Zane quipped back. "Now let's measure that power. Your cold and my heat. Bring it."

Luna had a second of doubt in her mind, but figured it could only help to test her power. She stood up and prepared herself. Her brother never held back when they sparred as kids. She knew the power he held. He could beat an army.

At the same time, he knew she could be ruthless and competitive her own right. She had once dislocated his shoulder in a fight. Of course, she had spent the whole night in the hospital and a good chunk of the morning after profusely apologizing, but he knew to never his guard down around her.

Zane exhaled pressurized steam from his nostrils. Luna exhaled a swift burst of condensation from her nostrils. Zane opened his mouth wide in an almost animalistic way as Luna puffed out her cheeks. Both of them inhaled and prepared to release their respective elemental blasts…

(See card: Fireball)

Luna's phone went off, causing both of them to falter and spray spit into the air.

"Seriously!?" Zane yelled, wiping his mouth.

Luna looked at her phone and sighed, "Dad…"

She accepted the call. "Hey, Daddy. Wait, what? ARC? The whole place!? Yeah, we'll be there! Jack, stop clanging! No…I…just please don't engage the enemy! I think I know who's behind this! No, promise me you won't engage the enemy! Okay, thanks! Give us a moment. We'll get there! Bye."

"What happened?" Zane asked.

"Let's go!" Luna demanded. "I'll explain on the way! We need to get the others! Dad's in trouble! People are in trouble!"

"Are you sure we can't just spend a bit more time? I just wanna see how we stack up in power against each other!" Zane complained, amidst more clanging.

Luna is about to counter when they hear a crunching sound. They look around to see that Jack had broken the goalpost with his clanging. On the bright side, he was completely defrosted.

"I didn't do it," Jack quickly straightened up.

The goalpost came down with a massive clang.

"Let's go!" Zane yelled and the three of them hauled ass.

1:15 p.m.

After getting the rest of the team, the Hands of Heaven arrived at the community college in Fleety.

(See card: Fleetwheel Cruiser)

Getting out of the car, they gave the place a once-over.

"Whoa," Mary summed up. "It's like Jumanji on crack."

"Tamara is strong," Hannah observed. "And it seems like the Hell Brigade has no respect for property."

"Sounds like three more people I know," Becky shot a look at Zane, Luna, and Jack, who started looking in different directions and whistling.

Mac walked over to them, decked out in an infrared visor, headphones, and a harness that held levers and mechanical arms, each with a small screen on them. Checking something on his center screen, he wandered over the team and then looked up.

"Holy shit! What happened!?" he exclaimed.

"Welcome to the land of the aware," Becky droned.

"All right, let's go," Zane commanded.

"Are you sure?" Mary asked him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Zane replied.

"Because it's less than six and a half hours till the full moon," Luna replied.

"Six and a half hours till you try and kill everyone in sight," Jack summed up.

"Hey, we'll be fine," Zane held his hands up in an attempt at reassurance. "We get in, find Tamara, fillet the sexy bitch, get home in time to lock me in a cage designed to torture and kill me, sound good?"

Zane walked on.

"If we don't die during this fiasco, I'll punch his nads off," Becky droned.

The team entered the building, ready to fight.

Deep inside the maze of vines, mud, and water, a nervous-looking couple find themselves lost.

"Jeremy, the exit can't be this way because everything got switched around!" the small, nervous girl exclaimed.

"I'm telling ya, Brit. Even if it's messed up, there's still gotta be some organization. The rooms can't travel that far because they're all still connected. C'mon, you're not scared, are ya?"

"Aren't you?" she hissed.

"Yeah…but I gotta stay calm. The military really shoved that into me. I gotta stay calm because you're dependent on me."

Britney smiled at him and hugged him. They looked at each other and kissed…which of course, turned into a make-out session. As they began getting more and more passionate, they began taking off clothes and laying down in the vines and mud, and they're love consumed them, making them unaware of the vines wrapping around their bodies, until…

(See card: Entangling Vines)

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

"Cute," a voice cooed. "But very, very stupid. I could smell your lust from miles away."

"Who the hell are you!?" Jeremy yelled.

Tamara descended from the vines covering the ceiling, upside-down and naked.

"The apex predator," Tamara announced and lunged at the now screaming couple with a long, lashing tongue and a mouth full of fangs.

(See card: Prey Upon)

(See card: Venomous Fangs)

2:00 p.m.

"What was that?" Zane asked.

"What was what?" Jack asked back.

"Did someone scream?" Zane asked right back.

Everyone looked around and shrugged. They had been walking around aimlessly for the past half-hour and found nothing but vines. They had just entered a large room with pillars and what looked like the remains of many double-doors.

"Weird…," Zane whispered.

"The fact that someone screamed?" Mary inquired. "It makes sense that you'd hear it. Your senses and all."

"Plus, with the full moon less than six hours away, you'd be getting rather good with your wolfy powers," Mac summed up.

"Making any headway there, Bill Gates?" Jack asked Mac, who was typing away.

"Ha-ha," Mac replied. "If you must ask, I am creating a map of the area we've covered so far. With the entire college restructured and whatnot, I figured it was best to create a visual display of our progress for obvious reasons."

"How are you gonna handle that, Mr. Visual Display?" Becky pointed to the hallway they had just entered. Everyone looked to see vines cover the doorway and make it utterly unrecognizable as an exit.

"Uh…heh…maybe, it's just temporary…?" Mac gulped.

"It's okay," Hannah rubbed Mac's shoulder who looked both disappointed and thankful. "I'm sure this is useful."

"Zane, use your nose," Luna recommended. "Maybe we can find some clues."

Zane sniffed around, rotating as he checked. "Aside the mud, vines, weird swamp water smell, and of course, the profuse smell of dead plants and shit, I can smell a lot of living things, mostly this sickly, sweet, gross smell of something…"

He stopped rotating and looked up and slowly craned his neck down as he spoke. "…with long legs, bright green eyes, glowing with energy, and deadly shiny, with fangs and venom."

Everyone went on their guard.

"How do you know all that?" Mary asked.

"It's right behind you," Zane concluded.

Everyone flipped around to see a massive black spider glowing with venomous green accents descending from the ceiling, clacking the massive sharp pincers on its mouth. The spider screeched at them and they screamed, but no one screamed harder and longer than Luna, who immediately went into rage-on battle mode and froze the damn thing solid.

(See card: Blightwidow)

(See card: Rush of Ice)

"What the-?" Hannah started, staring at Luna's complete one-eighty in personality.

"Arachnophobia strikes again," Jack explains.

"Arachnophobia, thy name is Luna Kay Howell," Zane groaned. "And it gets worse. Just watch."

Luna used her control over ice to repeatedly lift the frozen spider up and slam it into the ground over and over again.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" she screamed, gaining a manic look her face and sending her long hair flying everywhere.

Becky pointed at her with two thumbs and gave Zane and Jack a questioning look. They both just shrugged.

Then Luna suddenly stopped. The spider lay dead with what could only be understood as an expression of shock and confusion on its otherwise dead face.

She recomposed herself, quickly straightened her hair out, put a big smile on her cute face, walked triumphantly back to her team, and summed up, "I hate spiders."

Zane gave her a thumbs-up.

"What room are we in?" Hannah asked.

Mary walked over to the walls and started checking them until she found it. She moved the vines around to uncover a sign that started: MAXIMUM OCCUPANCY 220 PEOPLE.

"Cafeteria?" Mary offered.

"Cafeteria," Zane confirmed.

"The map lives!" Mac screamed.

Everyone else sighed.

2:25

A pair of ladies ran through the halls of some unknown area of the school and found themselves completely lost.

As they breathed hard and looked around, one of them fell to the ground and grabbed her head. Her friend ran over to her and kneeled to her level.

"What if we don't make it, Barb?" she whispered. "What if all those things that are making people scream around us get us?"

"Nothing will get us, Trish!" Barb tried to console her. "We're walking to the exit and when we do, we'll go and get the police, the army, the fucking coast guard if we have to, okay?"

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

Trish nodded. Barb stood up and immediately regretted her words as Tamara was right in front of her, hanging upside from the ceiling. Barb barely had the time to open her mouth to scream as Tamara shoved a long, snaking tongue into her mouth, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her up into the vines covering the ceiling. Trish screamed as she stood up and tried to run, but Tamara descended, pivoting around a terrified Trish from the ceiling.

Tamara then dropped down and stood up, keeping her eyes upon Trish. Trish breathed hard, on the verge of a panic attack. She tried to put an inhaler to her mouth, but Tamara's tongue got there first.

Her scream echoed as her blood splattered the vines on the walls.

2:45

Following the sound of the screaming, the team ran into another room.

"Nothing makes sense," Luna sighed. "If the rooms and walls keep changing, we could be on the other side of the college and not even know."

"What if even Tamara doesn't know what's what?" Jack asked. "If we can just find a system that works…"

"Zane's nose could be that system," Hannah offered.

"Zane…?" Mary wondered, concerned. Everyone turned to look to see Zane clutching his ribs.

Everyone checked their phones/watches to determine two things.

"No reception," Becky summed up. "And less than five hours away."

(Youtube music: Crawlspace)

"Zane?" Mary made to touch Zane's arm, but Zane suddenly roared. It was a human roar but it made everyone jump nonetheless. Zane breathed and growled and suddenly ran off.

"I think our system just bailed," Jack observed.

"He's losing it!" Luna yelled. "Mary, please! We can't go alone in this place! It's like a bad horror movie!"

Mary nodded and ran after him to match his speed.

(See card: Accelerate)

"I'll come too!" Hannah exclaimed. She ran off, copying Mary's spell.

(See card: Reverberate)

"If you're going, take me, too, Hannah!" Mac followed them at a much slower pace.

"Three and three for each group," Jack explained. "And they get the monster!"

This earned him a well-aimed punch from Luna. "My brother is not a monster! He's just…"

"Fucked in the head?" Becky offered.

"Never mind," Luna mumbled.

"Where are we?" Becky asked.

"Gym?" Jack offered, pointed at what looked like broken basketball hoop lying on the ground and covered in vines.

"Do gyms normally have a massive net on the ceiling?" Becky asked, looking up.

Everyone looked up to see not a net, but a web. Suddenly, a massive spider with a bulging abdomen descended and hit the ground with a barely a small thud. It screeched.

(See card: Arachnus Spider)

Luna growled and went to attack, but the spider was faster. It shot a quick spray of webbing at her, trapping her.

(See card: Arachnus Web)

"Luna!" Jack yelled.

The spider started pulling a screaming Luna towards itself when Jack decided to grow to a massive size, towering over the spider.

Becky released a swirling deluge of water and washed the spider up, sending it careening towards Jack who punched it out and broke every important part it had in one strike. It ricocheted off a wall and lay there, quivering until it died.

(See card: Hydrosurge)

(See card: Giant Growth)

Jack shrank back to normal size and ran over to comfort a shivering Luna.

"As soon as we can, we need to go," Becky advised.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Luna hugged Jack back and got up, putting her hands on his arm and face to reassure him.

Suddenly, a couple of guys burst onto the scene carrying bats.

"Who are you!?" one of them yelled.

"We're not gonna hurt you!" Luna yelled back.

"Ha! We're the ones carrying bats!" the other guy yelled. "And you're just two girls and one non-girl!"

"Oh, good," Becky droned. "They're intelligent."

"Hey, listen, assholes!" Jack commanded. "We're here to help people, so put the bats down unless you wanna see how the military teaches us to sodomize prisoners of war with sports equipment!"

The two idiots put the bats down and backed off.

"Did the military really teach you that?" Luna whispered.

"No, but I figured they didn't know that," Jack answered.

Luna and Becky facepalmed.

3:15 p.m.

Zane, Mary, and Hannah ran into a room. Zane nervously sniffed around and roared.

"What is wrong with you!?" Mary yelled.

"He's about to transform into a homicidal raging man-beast," Hannah reminded her. "Duh."

"Thanks for the blatancy, Hannah," Mary sighed.

Mac ran in, weighed down by his equipment and out of breath.

"That…was…more…running…than I…needed," Mac gasped.

"How can you be so skinny and so out-of-shape at the same time?" Mary asked, shaking her head.

Mac shrugged.

Zane sniffed around.

"It's all that blood and forestry and that awful smell…wait!" Zane yelled. Then he shoved his face into the swamp water around them and spat it out.

"EW!" the other three exclaimed.

"Wolfsbane! And blood…but wolfsbane!" Zane realized. "It's not just the full moon approaching. Tamara's laced the water and probably added spells to the building to fuck with me. I'm…I'm…compromised…"

Mary put her hands on Zane's shoulders and began rubbing them. "Hey, it's okay. We're here to help."

"If it's wolfsbane," Mac wondered. "How are you not vomiting?"

"Hmmm," Zane thought for a second. "Oh! It worked! Luna's experiment worked! I'm immune!"

"Wow, so you can ingest all the wolfsbane you want?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know about all that I want," Zane replied.

"Let's not test that right here," Mary advised. "I don't want you to die."

"Thanks, I…," Zane started but suddenly tensed up.

"What?" Mary asked.

"Something's coming, something familiar…"

Zane stood up. Everyone got ready to fight. Out of the entrance opposite to the one, there came a creature the size of a very large dog with brown fur spotted with white and large golden antlers and curious look in its eyes.

(See card: Golden Hind)

"It's a deer," Mac observed.

"It's a reindeer," Zane corrected.

"A Golden Hind," Hannah specified.

"Santa?" Mary gasped.

Sam Claus came up behind the hind and waved to all. Everyone sighed loudly.

"Yeah, hello to you, too," Sam sighed right back.

"Sorry, just we've been really tense," Zane explained.

"I know, you got four hours left," Sam waved it off.

"You know?" Hannah asked.

"Course! I'm Santa. It's my job to know about you all," Sam explained. "Don't worry, I'm not a stalker. Just a really engaged guidance counselor."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"By the way, the water is smelly and not swamp-smelly, according to my deer," Sam pointed down.

"Yeah, that's wolfsbane," Zane replied. "But thanks to Luna, I'm immune. We've been trying new stuff with wolfsbane. I'm up to a full plate of purple pasta Alfredo now. Alfredo no-puke-o."

Sam gave him a thumbs-up.

"Hey, can we use the hind to send a message to Luna and the others to tell em we're okay?" Hannah asked. "I just tried to use Becky's telepathy link but I think something around this place is interfering with it."

"Yeah, sure," Sam replied. "Just need a piece of paper."

"I got paper," Mac offered. "I'm always prepared with technology!"

"Please tell me one of those things you got around you isn't a printer," Mary sighed.

"Okay, I won't tell you," Mac replied.

Everyone but Mac facepalmed.

3:45 p.m.

Luna's group of five people and three brains moved cautiously through the maze of vegetation.

"How are we gonna get out?" one of the guys whined.

"Maybe these guys know something we don't," the other dude offered.

"Oh, we know plenty of things you don't," Becky mused.

"Wow, mean much?" the first guy muttered.

Suddenly, the Golden Hind appeared from the other end of the hallway with a piece of paper attached to its left horn.

"Hey, it's dad's reindeer!" Luna jumped into action and ran to it.

"Dad's what?" the second guy asked.

"Who just has a reindeer?" the first guy wondered.

Luna took the note. "It says: 'found dad. water has wolfsbane, Mithridatism is a success, immunity is on!' Yes! It worked! Going on with the note. 'Coming back to you. See you soon. Love, Zane.'"

"Metha-wha…?" the second guy wondered on.

"What the hell…?" the first guy was just as lost.

"We need to get these guys outta here," Becky impatiently announced. "And I am not going with them."

"Jack, make a hole," Luna bossed.

Jack shrugged and punch a hole in the wall.

Luna sent a wave of ice over it.

(See card: Rush of Ice)

"How did you…?" the first guy asked as they looked into the hole. Jack shoved them both in, sending them screaming down a slide.

"Stay together!" Luna yelled.

"What if that takes them elsewhere and not out?" Becky asked.

"They'll still be together," Luna smiled. "Golden Hind, show them out please."

The hind nodded and went after the guys.

"Cute," Becky nodded and walked on.

They walked on until they heard something.

"Is someone…crying?" Jack asked.

They walked on and into another large room to see their team members and Luna's father. Mac was on his knees crying.

"MY MAP IS USELESS!" Mac cried. "TECHNOLOGY, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!?"

Hannah walked over to him and patted his head. "There, there…"

"Oh, hey," Zane greeted his team as they walked in. Luna ran and hugged her dad.

"I'm so happy you're all okay," she said. Then she hugged Zane. Hugs went all around through the team. Mary hugged Sam twice.

"Mmmm…cookies…," she sniffed.

Mac got up, regained his composure, and stood proudly.

"I will not give up!" he announced. "I will see us through and win! After all, I'm Mac Lee Oster, colorless defender mage extraordinaire! HAHAHAHA!"

He leaned on the wall and it gave away. He went screaming.

"Mac!" Hannah exclaimed.

"I think he wrecked the integrity of the building!" Jack realized.

Suddenly, the ground shook…and gave away. They all screamed as they fell…only to be caught by a system of slippery vines. They began sliding around at ridiculously fast speeds.

(See card: Root Maze)

Around and around they went. Zane thought it couldn't worse until he noticed he was racing towards an icy area of the vines.

"What the-?" he started to exclaim but his junk rammed the edge of ice at top speed. He made on the ice but with painful consequences.

"Ow, my precious wolf balls…," he squeaked.

"I'm so sorry!" Luna cried out.

Suddenly, they were all deposited off and fell into a giant field of mud with a series of splats.

(See card: Quicksand)

"This may have been my fault…," Mac groaned.

"Ya think?" Mary groaned right back.

Zane, face-down in the mud, just flipped him off.

Becky tried to release water, but it just mixed with the mud. Jack tried to punch his way out but to no avail. Luna froze the area she was already butt-deep in but the ice started sinking.

"Good-bye, cruel world," Hannah groaned.

"Why do I feel so weak?" Jack asked.

"Because it's not just a Quicksand spell," Sam explained. "It's a Lignify spell. We're gonna be feeling like trees soon enough."

(See card: Lignify)

"I can't feel my legs already," Becky realized.

Down and down they sank into the muddy abyss. Black covered their eyes as the last of their breath ran out and the cold, unfeeling embrace of death held them…

Gasps of breath as oxygen returned to their lungs and feeling returned to their limbs. The spell had worn off. But as they tried to move, they realized they were still constricted. Looking around, they found themselves tied in a circle, sitting on something very soft and gray…like a…

"This is a bed…," Zane realized, squinting through throbbing pain in his head. It felt like his nose had been bleeding and then dried up.

"This is an altar," Jack countered, looking at the torches around it placed upon ceremonial-looking pillars. "And on here, is that the symbol for Venus?"

"Mars, and now Venus," Hannah observed.

"At least it's a sexy one now," Mac mused, which earned him an elbow jab in the ribs by Becky.

They all looked around, and despite only seeing a part of the whole symbol, they could make it out rather well if they looked around.

"Who are these people?" Mary asked as she realized that there were four yellow and bloodied skeletons in the middle of their circle.

Zane sniffed around.

"What do you smell?" Luna asked.

"Aside from the four corpses here? Well, Tamara definitely," Zane answered. "But I think Tibalt is here, too."

"Great, that's just what we need," Jack shot back.

"Weird…Venus…and this altar looks like a bed," Mary wondered.

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

"This bed looks like an altar," a voice replied. They all looked around to the best of their abilities towards the direction of the voice. Tamara, naked and covered in blood, the spider tattoo on her lower belly looking strangely alive, approached Zane and Luna, who were tied together. Mary was next to Zane with Jack next to Luna. The others struggle with their rope bonds behind them.

"Good evening, Luna," Tamara cooed. "You look so lovely in the almost moonlight."

"Wait, what time is it!?" Zane demanded.

"Almost seven," Tamara smiled. "Nice knowing your human side. Can't wait to let the dogs out for a bite."

"Almost seven!?" Mac exclaimed.

"We slept for like three hours!" Becky yelled. "I knew we should have left you back home, Zane!"

"It'll be fun seeing how you all do, tied to a werewolf," Tamara mused.

"But…what do we do now?" Hannah asked. "And why can't I use my magic?"

"Trip Noose. A fantastic little slipknot trigger noose that also works as a restraint tool that keeps you tapped out of magic power," Tamara explained. "Don't leave home without it."

(See card: Trip Noose)

"Who are these people?" Luna demanded, pointing her elbow at the skeletons.

"Sacrifices," Tamara explained with a manic glint in her eye. "You see, Tibalt's demon, Sathares, requires destruction to awake. Mine requires flesh. I consume the flesh and the demon takes my power to rise. Five sacrifices full of blood, meat, hormones, and lust. And you're number five, sweet Luna."

Luna growled, turning red as her heartbeat rose. She wasn't the only one. Zane and Jack were looking rather pissed off too. But it was Zane she was worried about.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam asked, calmly.

"Santa, I know you don't approve," Tamara replied. "But your daughter and I have a special bond. We're soulmates. Of course, until I do her and eat her pretty little head off."

Luna shuddered at this.

"Can I pretend I didn't hear that?" Sam sighed.

"So, what's your plan after you eat my head off?" Luna asked.

"Move on to the rest of the team. Maybe Mary. She's got nice thighs. Loads of things I can do with those. Becky's quite pretty. Tall and slender is yummy. Jack's got a good bod. Even Mac is kinda cute…"

"Uh…thanks?" Mac groaned. Everyone else was blushing and getting annoyed at this.

"And Hannah's just scrumptious like a little cupcake." Hannah let out a small squeak at this comment.

"All except Zane," Tamara answered and bent down to Zane, who was tried really hard to not stare at Tamara's hanging and ample breasts and focus on her eyes instead. She grabbed Zane's face.

"You're cute, but Tibby's looking forward to fighting ya and beating the crap out of you until you join his pack," Tamara explained. "But he never said I couldn't have some fun."

Tamara snaked out her long tongue, shoved into Zane's mouth, and tried to kiss him…until she felt it. Heat. She pulled it out but too late.

(Youtube music: Disturbed by Magi)

Zane blasted her with a powerful stream of fire.

Tamara fell back. The top half of her body was burnt. She got back up. The spider tattoo glowed and she regenerated right back with an angry look on her face.

(See card: Golgari Charm)

"How did you do that!?" she demanded. "You shouldn't be able to use magic at all!"

Zane stood up, free of his restraints. His eyes were glowing red and his pupils were slits, like an animal of the night. He raised his hand to show Tamara a phalanx of razor-sharp claws.

"Your noose forces me down," Zane replied. "But it does nothing to stop inherent abilities, like, oh, I don't know, the ones awakened by a full moon. So, I slipped the slipknot and burn, baby, burn."

"Well done!" Jack yelled. "Now, how do you avoid killing us?"

Luna lifted her hands. Zane had clawed his way through her restraints, too. Soon the whole team was out.

"Don't worry about being outnumbered," Luna smiled. "Apparently, Tibalt is on his way!"

"Wait…," Tamara's face went deadpan. "Tibalt is here, too?"

"You don't know!?" Jack asked.

Tibalt burst in through a door behind Tamara, covered in angry burns.

"TAMARA!" he roared. "Why didn't you tell me about all the fucking wolfsbane!?"

"You weren't supposed to be here, you idiot!" Tamara yelled back. "It was supposed to be for Hunter!"

The whole team started laughing at that irony.

"Oh, man! What else don't you know?" Zane asked. "Who else is here!? Montague!?"

At that moment, Montague fell from the ceiling, covered in mud.

"Tamara…," he groaned through clenched teeth, feeling the effects of the Lignify spell. "What the fuck, Tamara…?"

Tamara stomped on his head. He groaned but then stood up, the stomping having taken off the spell.

The Hands of Heaven laughed even more.

"We'll follow your lead, Zane," Luna offered. Zane nodded.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun," Zane growled, his canines glowing and reflecting the limited light in the room. "Becky, Hannah, and Mac, take dad out and escort any remaining people out."

They nodded and Sam and Becky teleported them out, using a lot of power in the process.

(See card: Teleport)

"Luna and Jack, handle Tamara and Montague. Mary, help me out. We got half an hour until I turn. We got this!" Zane commanded.

The fight broke out. Zane lunged at Tibalt, who grinned and ran out of the room with Zane and Mary in hot pursuit.

Jack beckoned Montague forward who got ready, but then decided…

"I'm pretty tired, dude," Montague whined. "Can we just not?"

Jack shrugged. Montague nodded and ran out. Jack focused towards Tamara, who didn't look happy.

"Idiots," she growled. "The both of them! I'll end you both together! Watch me!"

She began absorbing power.

"Uh-oh!" Luna warned. "She's about to do it, isn't she?"

The corpses sank into the bed as the mattress began squishing and stretching like it was alive or something. Luna and Jack jumped off the bed as it sank in on itself. A dark aura erupted from the center of the altar as the earth shook. Massive black spires shot of the pool of darkness and bend outwards, their sharp points connecting with the ground and hoisting something heavy up.

"Spider legs…," Luna squeaked. "Why does it have to be spiders?"

The creature rose as it unveiled itself. Massive, roughly the size of a large house, it had a swollen green abdomen with massive spike covered legs. A hard, dark green, exoskeletal cover embedded with gross-looking yellow fang-like spikes led up to a humanoid, female body, pale with a green exoskeleton, many bright blue eyes, and a gaping mouth lined with a long tongue and dripping fangs.

She held a long scepter with a blue jewel in it.

"Meet Asmodite!" Tamara screamed in glee. "The great demon of lust!"

"Wait, I thought you said you needed five sacrifices!" Jack yelled back.

"I will be number five!" Tamara announced and somersaulted into Asmodite. They began frothing and swelling up together as they combined. The pale woman was replaced by Tamara's naked body, her top half protruding through the exoskeleton. She seemed weak as she struggled for a moment in her new form.

"Until, of course…," Tamara announced. "I take you, my dear Luna."

She stood back up and roared at them spraying venom everywhere. Luna and Jack jumped back to barely dodge it. Tamara had a gaping mouth with an even longer tongue, massive blue eyes numbering in the teens, and sharp fangs.

"Ew…," Luna summed up.

"I will be the last thing you see, dear Luna!" Tamara/Asmodite screeched. "And even your angel can't help you! Not with me here and your brother there in the throes of his madness. Twenty minutes left."

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

Luna pulled out her blank card and looked at it.

"Ready?" Luna asked.

"Ready," Jack answered.

Elsewhere…

"Ready?" Zane asked Mary, growling and shaking as energy surged through his body.

"Ready," Mary answered.

Tibalt and Tamara both grinned with their fangs out. They lunged. The heroes jumped into battle. Two two-vs.-one battles with the clocking running out, and laughter and howling filled the air…

(To be continued…)


	8. Chapter 8 - Enchant - Part 2

**Chapter 8 – Enchant – Part 2**

(Youtube music - Hell's Bells)

Argus Silver pulled up to Arcane River Community College and sized up the area. He looked to his left to see the sun sinking. He looked at his watch.

7:22 p.m.

With eighteen minutes to go until the full moon, he took action. He got off his tank-like bike, pulled out his massive silver gun, loaded a special bullet into it, and fired at the wall, creating a massive charred hole.

(See card - Leave No Trace)

Placing another special bullet into his gun, he entered the labyrinth.

As battles raged above, Mac, Becky, Hannah, and Sam Claus raced through Tamara's jungle labyrinth. They had three people with them that they rescued.

"Hey, Mac, you notice how Luna has always attracted creeps?" Hannah asked.

"Hmmm, I guess she has," Mac confirmed.

"Tibalt wants to skin her alive to get to Zane, Tamara wants to screw and eat her, and we don't even know what Montague wants," Becky added.

"It is necessary to talk about this in front of me?" Sam complained.

"Sorry, but I just can't help wonder," Hannah continued, much to Sam's chagrin. "Has it always been like this?"

"Yeah, kinda!" Mac confirmed.

"For God's sake," Sam sighed.

"Since the dawn of time, or roughly middle school for Luna, aka boobs time, Luna has been the subject of many an alluring eye," Mac explained. "Dudes, a few non-dudes, have been into since forever. She's _that_ girl. Hell, even I liked her for a while."

"But…you like Asian girls…right?" Hannah asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, of course," Mac agreed. "And…"

"And her big brother was Zane Hunter," Becky added. "How badly did he kick your ass?"

"It was like four-ish years ago and…well, ever been dangled off a two-story roof by your foot and asked to recite the entirety of 'Wakko's America' as the blood rushes to your head and the only person that comes to your rescue is a newly-turned-adult hot babe who will never reciprocate your feelings because, in her eyes, you're her brother's nerdy best friend?" Mac explained, slowly sounding more and more depressed as he went. "But, I got over her rather quickly."

"I remember that," Sam smiled. "Good times."

"What are they talking about?" one of the people, a small petite girl, the group of heroes were leading asked her friends.

"I don't know, but this Luna chick sounds hot!" her friend, a heavy-set dude, replied.

"You're getting coal, kid!" Sam threatened him.

"Real professional," Becky droned.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 8)

I. Chotto yogoreta SUUTSUKEESU wo motte

Nani mo shirazu ni sora kara orita

Chizu no mukou, koko ni sanjou

Yume ni mita akogare no basho

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Oh baby JANJAN kabe norikoeyou with my guitar

Todoku made oh yeah utaou Just music sore dake de

Kimi ni sasageru yo oh yeah

MAJI de kyoutsuuten no hou ga ooi nchau no? with my guitar

Sagashinagara yea utaou, just love tada sore dake de,

Oikake get free?! My perfect dream!

Yea Yea Yea

The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

Ne teru toki mo

Oki teru toki mo

Yume wo mikata ni shiyo yo Yea

II. Along with a little dirty suitcase,

I descended from the sky.

Across the map, it called me here,

the place I've longed and dreamed for.

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

Oh baby, strum strum, I'll overcome the walls with my guitar.

Reaching far, oh yeah, I'll sing.

Just music, that's all,

I dedicate it to you, yeah.

Seriously, don't we have so much in common? With my guitar,

let's search, yeah, and sing.

Just love, only just that,

chasing to be free!? My perfect dream.

yea yea yea The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

When I'm sleeping, when I'm awake, I support my dreams.

I wanna believe the singing on beat,

most recently is like recess for me.

Pretty pretty please, no birds and the bees,

but ecstasy with extra cheese.

Rhyming rhino sounding like bono,

all smacked up with a black jack bottle.

When I say "ho", you say "hey"

You don't understand what I'm saying, huh?

III. Team shot

Superimposed shots of members

Logo

Montague's castle

Zane vs. Tibalt

Luna vs. Tamara

Mac and Hannah run from baddies

Becky vs. baddies

Mary and her Thopters

Jack vs. Montague

Montague rages with power

Montague's demon

Zane, Luna, and Jack, ready to fight

Allies

Zane and Luna fly down with angel wings

Battle scenes.

Team shot

Logo

As the dust cleared from Tamara/Asmodite's projectile venom blasts, Luna and Jack found themselves pinned by the throats to a wall by a pair of massive, green, shiny spider legs. They had combined through the use of a spell.

(See card - Demonic Pact)

"Oh, my dears, I may just consider a fantastic threesome!" Tamara growled. "Of course, Jack's role will be limited to watching and the occasional quickie. I really prefer Luna and me to get seriously involved."

Jack grumbled incoherent threats and demands.

"You're…disgusting…," Luna groaned.

"You have no idea," Tamara chuckled.

(Youtube music - Eisenwolf)

Zane and Tibalt circled each other with only a few minutes left until the full moon. Mary stayed out of the circle, but ready to strike if needed.

"How do you feel, beta?" Tibalt growled through his fangs, glaring at Zane with glowing red eyes and blackened scleras.

Zane only growled back. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt powerful, even strong. He felt good, despite the increasingly aching pain in his ribs. Old injuries.

(See card - Furor of the Bitten)

"Zane, are you okay?" Mary asked nervously.

"Never better," Zane growled.

"Then, let's see!" Tibalt announced. He reeled back and let out a harrowing howl that sent goosebumps raising on Zane and Mary's limbs.

Gangs of devils rose from the ground and ran at Zane and Mary.

(See card - Make Mischief)

(See card - Devil's Playground)

(See card - Dance with Devils)

Mary quickly sank her hands into the ground into her own hammerspace dimension and swung them out, wearing cat claws. A liquid-metallic substance crawled up her legs and slipped over her clothes, turning her outfit into armor. Then she pulled a massive pair of bladed wings from her own hammerspace dimension and put them on quickly, rising into the air, her arms and legs cackling with electricity.

(See card - Neko-Te)

(See card - Neurok Stealthsuit)

(See card - Bladed Pinions)

"My turn," Zane smiled. He pulled out Azrience, the Justice Armor and activated it posthaste. Gears and metal pieces covered Zane's arm and chest. Red and gold armor pieces unfolded placed themselves all over Zane's body. A helmet covered his head and face entirely. A magical display in front of his face showed everything in front of him and in his periphery.

(Youtube music - RWBY - I Burn)

"Let's play," Zane announced. Both Zane and Mary shot into the air as devils chased after them. Zane pulverized oncoming devils with his guns and Mary volleyed blue blasts of lightning at them, charring a few and destroying a lot. They split up.

(See card - Galvanic Blast)

One wave of devils followed Zane and another followed Mary.

Zane shot at the ceiling to bring it down on some of the devils along with vines, mud, water, and about $25,000 worth of the culinary department's kitchen.

Laser blasts from Zane's wrist cut swaths through the horde of devils. But more joined.

"The devils would annoy the hell out of the devil himself," Zane groaned.

"Ever actually met the devil?" Mary asked, flying to evade a squad of devils herself.

"Is this really the time?" Zane yelled.

"Sorry…just curious," Mary sighed.

Suddenly, she felt something wet grab her leg. She looked around to see a devil tagging behind her with its tongue wrapped around her leg. She blasted it off with her Galvanic Blasts, leaving its tongue on her leg. She grabbed the tongue and tossed it at Tibalt, who was distracted and got hit in the face. Mary tried not to laugh.

Tibalt roared and released a wave of flames throughout the room, roasting some of the devils, mainly due to Zane and Mary using the swarm of devils as a shield.

(See card - Pyroclasm)

Zane raced at Tibalt, who swung his hand to direct more devils to intercept them. Zane and Mary caught a sight of each and nodded in unison. Zane pulled out his bigger guns and blasted the devils to rile them up while Mary did the same. Mary brought out a pair of thopters to aid her as they blasted alongside her.

(See card - Thopter Squadron)

(See card - Coordinated Barrage)

They led the waves of shortsighted, bloodthirsty devils towards Tibalt, who saw the situation a tad too late. As Zane and Mary turned to race towards him, they shot up, and the devils all smashed into Tibalt as he roared.

Tamara went careened into her altar as a giant Jack rammed her hard.

(See card - Giant Growth)

Luna sent a wave of ice over her legs, but Tamara easily broke through it, getting up to her sharp legs.

(See card - Rush of Ice)

"Luny! I don't like when you tease me!" Tamara laughed. "And Jacky, wait for your fucking turn!"

"Can't you just die?" Jack groaned.

"Can't you just give me your girlfriend?" Tamara shot back.

"Hey, you want me?" Luna interrupted. "Then, deal with me."

Luna shot a star-like ball of light into the air. The ball turned into a small idol-like throne, alabaster with a pair of wings around it.

(See card - Sigil of the Empty Throne)

"What is that?" Tamara asked.

"The Sigil of the Empty Throne. But that's not important. Here's what's important. I will never, ever fall for your shit, Tamara. You think it's flattering, but it's just sick, especially since you're willing to kill the people I actually do love just to get to me. It's not cute, it's not flattering, it's sick, and I'm pretty sure murder and rape are illegal in most places on most worlds. Right, Jack?"

Jack gives her a mostly-agree, so-so hand gesture.

"Long story short," Luna continued. "You will not have sex with me, you will not bite my head off like a freaking spider, and you will roll over and die now like ugly non-insect that you are because this is my ANGEL!"

(Youtube music - Tobymac - It Starts Tonight)

Luna's angel card burst with a bright blue light and energy surged over her.

"Care to give me this one, babe?" Luna asked.

"Can I play games?" Jack pulled out his phone and headphones.

Luna rolled her eyes and let him get on with it. He was happy.

Luna read the card and announced it, "Say hello to Urichast, the Beautiful Illusion!"

Luna's clothes disintegrated making Tamara gasp and making Jack actually look up from his phone in equal enjoyment. She worked her hips and legs as very revealing silver armor appeared and placed itself around her hips and breasts, along arm and thigh bracelets, knee caps, boots, and gloves. Four large aqua-colored wings tipped with gold trim grew out of her back and embraced her. Then, as they unfurled back, a silver vulpine helm descended onto her head and a violet ribbon wrapped around her arms. A snowflake scepter completed the ensemble.

"You're even more beautiful!" Tamara gasped.

"Ugh…grow up," Luna chided and swung her scepter, casting another ice spell on Tamara's legs, freezing her in place. "You can't just have and possess someone. It's about growing together. The reason Jack is good for me is because we let each other live and love. Can't do that if you rip my head off."

The sigil gave a brief glow and an angel descended down from it. The angel stood next to her and nodded. Luna nodded back.

Then, Luna summoned a warrior to stand behind her; a strong Greek-looking warrior with a big spear. Another angel joined Luna.

(See card - Archetype of Courage)

"We shall end the enemy assault before they get a chance to strike!" the Archetype of Courage yelled.

Tamara broke through the ice.

"Fair enough!" she goaded. "Let's play!"

Tamara laughed and released her power, calling up two massive spiders from the ground.

(See card - Penumbra Spider)

Luna shuddered and jumped into action and encased them in ice. The angels destroyed the spiders. Two more spiders appeared from their corpses, which were destroyed by Luna and the Archetype of Courage.

Tamara shot out a glowing purple spider web from her crotch (secondary spider mouth) at Luna who countered with well-placed wave of white energy.

(See card: Decimator Web)

(See card: Disenchant)

They parried. Scepter versus scepter, venom versus ice, foxy angel versus spider demon.

"Don't you get it, Luna?" Tamara yelled as they pushed at each other with all their strength. "I don't want you to be my girlfriend. You're a conquest. You're my prey!"

"Flattering," Luna replied. "But like I keeping saying…piss off!"

Luna pushed Tamara back.

"I'll admit it," Luna spoke up. "You're really powerful. Even in this new form, I'm clearly gonna have sore muscles in the morning."

"Ditto," Tamara nodded.

"Then let's end this!" Luna replied. She inhaled and puffed out her cheeks.

Tamara released her own power. A blast-wave of dark energy.

(See card: Killing Wave)

Luna immediately released it, a tactic taught by another loved one. A blast wave of ice magic concentrated into a single stream, more powerful than ever before.

(See card: Icy Blast)

The Icy Blast cut through the Killing Wave and knocked Tamara off all of her feet.

Luna activated a spell and separated Tamara and her demon.

(See card: Curse Break)

The demon suddenly evaporated into darkness and sank into the ground along with the altar. Jack walked over to Luna as her angels and enchantments disappeared. Luna hugged Jack, who felt rather horny at the moment.

"It's over, Tamara," Luna announced.

Tamara lay there, wet, naked, and quivering. Suddenly, she smiled.

"Huh?" Luna wondered.

Over by Zane and Mary, Tibalt was having similar reaction. He lay there, chuckling to himself.

"What's the deal with you?" Zane asked. "Finally lost the last few bits of your mind?"

"Look at your watch, you moron," Tibalt growled.

Mary checked her watch and gasped.

7:37 p.m.!

"You have like three minutes left!" he yelled.

"Wait, but I don't feel-ACK!" Zane immediately grabbed his stomach. He doubled over as Mary held him. Azrience wore off and disappeared in a shimmering light.

Tibalt began laughing…until the pain overtook him, too. He began groaning in pain.

 _Oh, no!_ Mary thought. _Why doesn't Becky's telepathy work in here? Stupid Tamara! I really hope the others come by soon!_

"The Full Hunter's Moon," Tamara cooed weakly. "A gorgeous thing, isn't it? Zane may not think so."

"We have to go!" Jack yelled. Luna nodded and they started running until Tamara grabbed Luna's leg.

"Not yet, dear Luna," Tamara growled. "You're still mine and-ACK!"

Jack stomped on Tamara's back and forced her to let go. Luna then kicked Tamara way and locked her in ice.

"Buzz off!" Luna yelled.

The couple ran off.

"Why didn't you tell her to chill out?" Jack complained.

Luna rolled her eyes and shot a grumpy look at Jack.

Suddenly, they were joined by Mac, Becky, and Hannah.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Jack asked.

"We saw the clock!" Mac replies.

"We got all the people out and left Santa to help em out," Becky added.

"And we also created a withered-up hole to the exit using my Boggart Ram-Gang!" Hannah announced happily. "No more vines growing back! But there was also a weird charred up hole leading out. No idea what made it."

(See card: Boggart Ram-Gang)

"Thanks, guys," Luna smiled, but then went serious. "Now Zane needs us! Let's go!"

They find their way to Zane bent over on the ground, Mary helping him. Tibalt laid on the opposite side, also aching and groaning. Luna checked her phone. 7:39…7:40!

"Mary! Get away!" Luna yelled and ran to Mary, pulling her away. She was reluctant.

"He's gonna….," Mary whispered.

"Yeah, and we need to prepare to run if necessary," Becky added.

(Youtube music - Crawlspace)

Luna looked outside through holes made in the ceiling by the fight that occurred before. The Hunter's Moon was bright, large, and orange-red.

Zane suddenly screamed. His bones began cracking as his muscles boiled. Tibalt on the other side was writhing and flipping around himself. Whatever he had felt before when transforming was way less than this.

"Zane!" Luna screamed in return. She suddenly found herself crying. The sound of her brother was unbearable.

Mary buried her face in Luna's jacket. Luna hugged her. She didn't want to admit it, but she needed a hug, too. The whole team tried hard to hold each other and themselves back out of both fear and a need to protect each other.

Zane looked at the two of them for a second. Was this it? What could he remember when he transformed? What was going to happen? A surge of pain shot through his spine as it snapped in many places. He screamed. Blood boiled. He could feel blood pouring out of his every orifice. Their nails began growing with spurts of blood. Fangs grew out of their skulls in the place of their previous teeth, lengthening with each spurt of blood. His eyes teared up with blood as everything turned red. He began choking on blood. His chest exploded as it seemed to grow, unaccustomed to the racing heartbeat and massive lung capacity of a wild animal and suddenly…it stopped.

Zane was dead. Nothing existed. His heart had given out. He fell, reeling back. He fell and the beast caught him. His head reeled back and he screamed. Then the scream became a roar, shattering what by comparison was a quietness. Tibalt roared.

Both of them stared at each other. Their snouts grew out as coarse fur covered their blackened bodies, Tibalt a dirty white and Zane a coal black. Their clothes ripped as their muscles tightened and grew. Their arms elongated and their hands grew longer claws. Their legs worked themselves into powerful wolf legs as their tails spun out of their now-fixed spines.

Panting and ready to pounce, they stared each other down.

"Should we do something?" Mac hissed.

"Stand down until necessary," Jack answered in a hushed whisper. "They seem more focused on each other than the buffet of prime-cut meat over here."

"Are you talking about us?" Hannah asked.

"He's talking about himself," Becky droned.

"They're focused on each other because Tibalt is an Alpha and Zane is a challenger," Luna replied.

"Which means that this battle could change everything," Mary finished.

(Youtube music - Two Steps From Hell - Hunter's Moon)

Tibalt roared at Zane and shot volleys of black lightning. Zane raced into the blast and took it head on. Everyone gasped.

(See card: Blightning)

As the smoke cleared, Zane looked unfazed. But he had an aura of green energy around him.

(See card: Blessings of Nature)

"Whoa, is that a green spell?" Mac asked. "Since when can Zane use green?"

"He can as a werewolf," Luna guessed. "And that was no regular spell, that was a Miracle spell. He cut the mana cost of a spell by using it on impulse!"

Zane release a wave of power as the ridge of course black fur on his back ignited and burst into flames. His chest glowed like embers.

(See card: Firebreathing)

Zane raised his head in a dead-on focused glare and launched a series of Fireballs at Tibalt. Tibalt took them head on and roared at Zane. The roared summoned a gang of devils.

Zane let out a howl, a harrowing, resounding, howl that made his teammates cover their ears, and summoned creatures of his own, a pack of three massive wolves.

(See card: Predator's Howl)

"Here we go," Luna whispered.

The wolves and devils rammed each other, flesh and fur flying. Zane and Tibalt grappled with each.

"Go now!" Luna commanded and released her Icy Blast at Tibalt's back, distracting him, allowing Zane to smash Tibalt into the ground.

Mary blasted the devils with her lightning as Jack launched arrow after arrow, thinning the devil horde, helping the wolves get the upper hand.

(See card: Nylea's Bow)

Becky and Hannah concentrated their efforts with their Hydrosurge and Reverberate spells to making sure the devils couldn't get away from the wolves that were tearing them apart. Mac placed protective spells around to protect his friends, raising them up on metal ramparts to give them the high ground as he flew around on his Soratami Cloud Chariot.

(See card: Hydrosurge)

(See card: Reverberate)

(See card: Steel Wall)

(See card: Soratami Cloud Chariot)

Zane slashed Tibalt across the chest as Tibalt squeezed his hand around Zane's head, driving his claws into Zane's skull. They both pulled away. A series of elemental blasts from Zane's friends pushed Tibalt back. Tibalt gave a roar. Suddenly, blasts of gunfire pulled everyone's attention away. Argus ran in and fired at the wolves.

(See card: Silverstrike)

The devils and wolves all dissipated at Tibalt gave a soldier a stifled roar, turned tail, and ran.

Zane, however, took Argus' appearance as a challenge. Zane roared at him. Argus prepared to shoot, when Luna ran in-between them, swinging her arms in a circular pattern to place a pair of circular spells in each direction, a red one facing Zane and a white one facing Argus, stopping them from attack each other.

(See card: Circle of Protection - Red)

(See card: Circle of Protection - White)

Zane growled and writhed with fury.

"Out of the way, Howell," Argus commanded. "You were given an order to stand down by the commissioner of the PSMP. Now stand down before I arrest you for aiding and abetting."

Zane was distracted by the light of the circle of protection and began trying to scratch it.

"This is an innocent human," Luna shot back. "We have to help him, not shoot him."

"I have a question," Argus inquired. "Where's Hunter?"

Luna gulped but stood her ground, staring defiantly at Argus. "He's sick."

Argus smiled. "Fine," he agreed. "Then this won't be that bad of a shot."

Argus blasted the circles off with two Leave No Trace bullets, shattering them and blasting Luna back.

"Luna!" Jack screamed and ran to her. Zane roared and pounced at Argus.

Argus ran off with Zane in tow. Jack sat Luna up as she was dazed and seeing spots in front of her eyes.

"We have to help him…," Luna groaned, weakly, her eyes hurting and filled with tears, her ears ringing, and her heart racing faster than ever before.

"That bastard shot at you," Jack growled. "Next time I see him, I'll shove that gun up his ass!"

Luna just smiled and kissed him, calming him down.

After making sure she could get to her feet, the team ran out, using the next made by Hannah and Argus.

Meeting up with Sam, they filled him in. After filling in their mother on the details, the team split up into two groups. Luna, Jack, and Sam on one side, searched the city. Mac, Mary, Becky, and Hannah went to the forest.

"Werewolves love forests so he might head there," Sam informed them. "We can also follow the rumor mill."

Using the police radio calls about massive monsters racing through the streets, they tracked Zane to Arcane National Reserve. Tibalt, however, was a lost cause.

"I just wanna get to him before Argus does," Mary whispered.

Around sunrise, Mary ran through a clearing in the woods, nervously looking around. She was about to leave when she heard a rustling in the fallen autumnal leaves. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw him. Zane, naked and covered in mud, leaves, and his own blood. Mary ran over to him. He turned to face her.

"Mary?" he groaned. She smiled at him. He weakly smiled and passed back out. She decided to lay down next to him for a moment before calling the rest of the team.

Once the team found him, he was safe in the backseat. Luna sat next to him and two siblings passed out.

"Out like a light, those two," Jack smiled.

"Can you blame them?" Mary replied. "After the fight, they just put up against Tibalt and Tamara, it's no wonder they've passed out."

"It's always them, too," Becky added. "I know they come from a family legacy of warriors and world protectors, but I feel like the rest of us play second fiddle to Iron Man and Captain America. Btw, could Mac be any louder?"

Mac let out a loud snore.

"But Mac being asleep is normal," Hannah sighed sleepily.

"It's the only time he's normal," Becky droned.

Once they got home, Zane and Luna trudged in with the team.

"You wanna go to sleep?" Luna asked him.

"Yeah, in a bit," Zane replied. "I gotta check something. You said Argus was there? On the job?"

"Yeah, I don't know if he knows that you were the werewolf, but he definitely suspected it," Mary added.

Zane turned on the television and changed it to the morning news.

"…and after the incident at the community college in Arcane, the commissioner of the PSMP, a private branch of the Arcane Police Department, was interviewed last night about the success of one of the detective-inspectors of his team, Argus Silver. During the interview, he had this to say…"

"And thus, DI Silver cleared the whole place. I know that the late Corbin Cletus…bless his soul…wanted to allocate the expenses going to PSMP elsewhere, but I think after this, even he would agree, that my team is the best there is."

People clapped. Zane turned off the television and threw the remote on the couch with a flick. The energy in the room was tense.

"Corbin Cletus was being really hard on dad's work," Mary spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "But now that he's dead, dad's really hauling in the publicity. Outstanding, considering no one knows what the PSMP does."

"Yeah, it's a tad smelly, the whole business," Becky added.

"And the worst of all, that cage we all spend eons building wasn't even used last night," Hannah added.

"Next time," Luna answered. Then she saw Zane's expression. "Um…sorry."

"No fucking worries," Zane grumbled. "I'll just be raging man-beast for at least twelve days a year. Granted I don't lose my temper, cause that's not a problem."

"On the bright side," Mac offered. "Zane can use green spells in his canid form. Surprised to know that, Zane?"

"Actually, I knew," Zane smiled. "I had to fight off Hannibal's stupid ass to get to activate my angel. Probably should have told you guys before."

"Ya think?" Mac shot back, looking a tad annoyed.

"Speaking of which, anyone actually see…or smell…where Tibby and Tammy went?" Jack asked.

"No, and worst of all…," Zane replied. "I feel like we're forgetting something."

Everyone looked around but no one seemed to have the answer.

Montague trudged through the remains of Tamara's labyrinth, looking around for signs of life.

"Hello…? Tibalt? Tamara? Master Bolas? Anyone? Maybe Luna? No? I'll even settle for Ventura? Hell, a spider would be nice right now and…"

A hissing shriek interrupted him.

"Wait, no! I was kidding about the spider! No! AAAAAAAH!"

And he ran off.


	9. Chapter 9 - Provoke - Part 1

**Chapter 9 - Provoke - Part 1**

(Youtube music: Dragon Civil War)

Flames and wreckage surrounded Zane and Jack as they glared at each other, both panting hard and nearing the end of their stamina. The sky had turned red and black as burning clouds blotted the sun out. Zane had a Leonin Shikari, four colorless Myr Tokens around him and his personal favorite, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. He also had a Sword of Feast and Famine and his Lightning Greaves placed on the ground next to him. Jack had five white Soldier Tokens.

(See card: Leonin Shikari)

(See card: Gisela, Blade of Goldnight)

(See card: Sword of Feast and Famine)

(See card: Lightning Greaves)

"You're gonna regret the day you ever challenged me, Hunter!" Jack yelled.

"The only thing I regret is not busting your head in sooner, Ventura!" Zane shot back.

"You idiots," Luna sighed.

"I activate my 'Green Sun Zenith', pouring a total of five mana into it to bring out my almighty! By the heavenly host of herons, Sigarda!"

(See card: Green Sun Zenith)

(See card: Sigarda, Host of Herons)

A blast of green light shot down from above and Sigarda descended to confront her own sister.

"Gisela, you're my sister and I love you, but I must do this by my captain," Sigarda announced.

"Bring it, bitch!" Gisela shot back.

"Why here?" Luna facepalmed. "Why right here during the busiest time?"

"Sigarda! Go!" Jack announced. "And I'll activate Afterlife! That's gonna turn your Gisela into a spirit! I win, bitch!"

(See card: Afterlife)

Sigarda raced to fight her sister as Jack's spell surged along with her.

"I give my Greaves and Sword to Gisela, giving her shroud so that Afterlife is useless," Zane announced. "Plus, she's stronger now and is protected from all green things, like…oh, I don't know…Sigarda?"

"Aw, fuck!" Jack yelled.

Gisela, moving faster than her sister, double-slashed Sigarda down.

Sigarda shimmered out of existence with a scream.

"And now, Gisela!" Zane commanded. "End him!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Jack screamed as Gisela slashed him down.

"You'll regret ever crossing me, Jack Ventura!" Zane roared.

"You bastard!" Jack yelled back.

"I am your leader and you will respect me and-OW!" Zane yelled as Luna punched him in the arm. Then she punched Jack as well.

(Youtube music: Hataraku Maou-sama! - Living Poorly)

Zane and Jack looked around and found themselves playing a game of table-top Magic in the middle of Luna's café.

"If you two are planning on doing nothing to help," Luna whispered. "Could you at least do it at home? Like anywhere in our home with its thirty-five rooms?"

"We have that many rooms?" Zane looked around, surprised.

"You both helped build the place," Luna shot back.

"Honestly, at some point, we just started making bedroom/restroom combos and totally lost count," Jack replied.

"Anyways," Luna shook her head. "Either help out or play at home."

"Relax," Zane sighed. "Your robot employee's got this! Play with us! We even got your deck!"

Zane showed her an aqua-colored deck box said:

 **LUNA K. HOWELL'S  
WINTER WONDERLAND**

"Home. Now," Luna bossed.

Zane and Jack left, dejected.

Luna sighed.

"Luna, the coffee is clumping weirdly, the toilet's clogged, there's a dude spraying stuff outside, and oh! The trash is full!" Marcia droned out. Luna sighed again.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 8)

I. Chotto yogoreta SUUTSUKEESU wo motte

Nani mo shirazu ni sora kara orita

Chizu no mukou, koko ni sanjou

Yume ni mita akogare no basho

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Oh baby JANJAN kabe norikoeyou with my guitar

Todoku made oh yeah utaou Just music sore dake de

Kimi ni sasageru yo oh yeah

MAJI de kyoutsuuten no hou ga ooi nchau no? with my guitar

Sagashinagara yea utaou, just love tada sore dake de,

Oikake get free?! My perfect dream!

Yea Yea Yea

The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

Ne teru toki mo

Oki teru toki mo

Yume wo mikata ni shiyo yo Yea

II. Along with a little dirty suitcase,

I descended from the sky.

Across the map, it called me here,

the place I've longed and dreamed for.

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

Oh baby, strum strum, I'll overcome the walls with my guitar.

Reaching far, oh yeah, I'll sing.

Just music, that's all,

I dedicate it to you, yeah.

Seriously, don't we have so much in common? With my guitar,

let's search, yeah, and sing.

Just love, only just that,

chasing to be free!? My perfect dream.

yea yea yea The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

When I'm sleeping, when I'm awake, I support my dreams.

I wanna believe the singing on beat,

most recently is like recess for me.

Pretty pretty please, no birds and the bees,

but ecstasy with extra cheese.

Rhyming rhino sounding like bono,

all smacked up with a black jack bottle.

When I say "ho", you say "hey"

You don't understand what I'm saying, huh?

III. Team shot

Superimposed shots of members

Logo

Montague's castle

Zane vs. Tibalt

Luna vs. Tamara

Mac and Hannah run from baddies

Becky vs. baddies

Mary and her Thopters

Jack vs. Montague

Montague rages with power

Montague's demon

Zane, Luna, and Jack, ready to fight

Allies

Zane and Luna fly down with angel wings

Battle scenes.

Team shot

Logo

Luna went outside in the pouring rain, carrying a big bag of trash, grumbling under her voice. She looked around to see a small man wearing an oddly ratty coat, spraying an odd green gas around the perimeter. She dumped the trash bag and turned to face the man.

(See card: Whispersilk Cloak)

"Excuse me, hi!" Luna called the man, who stood up and faced her. He was wearing massive tinted glasses and his hood up.

"Oh, okay. That's not a creepy look at all," she mumbled. "Anyways, two questions. One, why is that green? And Kenny from Ambush already sprayed us down two days ago, so are we gonna be charged for this, because…"

The man suddenly pointed the nozzle at Luna and released a series of blasts of gas at Luna, who immediately found the will to move leave her limbs. She looked around as the world spun around her and her heart rate slowed. She found it harder and harder to breathe and…black…

(See card: Marsh Gas)

Zane and Jack walked into their living room, still arguing.

"Seriously, that one card is the only reason you won," Jack argued.

"Seriously, how did you not see that one card coming?" Zane shot back.

"I was focused on the aggressively insane angel with four – count em – four swords," Jack replied.

"I hear four – count em – four excuses," Zane replied.

"I see two – count em – two idiots," Becky droned from her seat on the couch as she flipped through her Times magazine.

"Becky, shouldn't you be at work?" Zane asked.

"I'm on my lunch break," she replied.

"Till when?" Jack asked.

"Till I stop being the boss," she answered.

"That's actually fair," Jack nodded.

"Where's Luna?" Becky asked.

"Down being overworked," Zane mused.

"And you're not helping that poor slaving girl why?" Becky inquired.

"We wanted to play Magic…," Jack whispered.

"Go. Now," Becky ordered.

Zane and Jack grumbled their okays and went back down.

"Seriously, I might as well be back at work," Becky groaned. "I need a break from my break."

Zane and Jack end up involved in the hustle and bustle of the rush hour, failing to hide the looks of disdain on their faces as a result of their deep hatred of customer service.

"Where's Luna!?" Zane yelled.

"I don't know!" Jack yelled back. "I don't keep tabs on her!"

"She's your fiancée!"

"She's your sister!"

"We suck at being family!"

"Can you both just shut up and serve people!?" Marcia droned in a loud voice.

"How do you drone even when yelling?" Jack inquired. "Becky is more emotive than you, you freaking robot, and she's a greedy, bureaucratic, banking mogul!"

"We don't have zucchini cheese muffins!" Zane asserted himself to a customer. "For the fifteenth time this year, no one except you eats zucchini cheese muffins! I swear, you never buy anything! You just ask this stupid question repeatedly! Do you have no hobbies!?"

As the lady leaves with a look of disgust and anger on her face, the three of them took a sigh of relief once the rush died down.

"Where is Luna? Seriously?" Zane looked around nervously. "I'm getting worried about her."

"I know," Jack replied. "Maybe we should look outside."

Zane and Jack take a look around the building, finally arriving at the back of the store. They could see nothing. The rain was still pouring. Zane sniffed around.

"I think we need to clean this place out," Zane observed. "The trash residue is making this place smell like a swamp. Pretty sure Luna won't like if it this place starts oozing black mana. And there are other smells, like flop sweat and bad deodorant."

"You sure that smell is natural?" Jack asked.

"Not entirely," Zane replied. "But I can barely smell Luna."

"What does she smell like?"

"Mostly muffins and Italian food. You know, we're really very hard on her even if we're nice about it. We should cook for her sometime."

Jack nodded.

"If she's not here," Zane sniffed around. "Then she…man…I just need a trail but this swamp smell is too faint to follow and so is Luna's scent…"

"What about this?" Jack found a wet, black hat near the trash can. He picked it up and offered it to Zane.

Zane walked over to it, sniffed it, and immediately pulled back, reeling and swaying on the spot due to the smell.

"Wow, the owner of this hat hasn't showered in at least a week!" Zane coughed. "That's the flop sweat and bad deo. I can follow this even with the rain."

"So, it's not Luna's," Jack concluded. "Because she showered this morning. Actually, we did. Together."

"Please stop."

"Anyways, she's gone and this is here. What if she got kidnapped? We should get some stuff like water, food, her deck, and a spare change of clothes and go search for her."

"For us or her?"

"Everyone. Should we tell the others?"

"Mary's at work. Becky's avoiding work. Hannah's at school. Mac is…Mac. And Luna is not here. So, I don't think we need to bother em."

"Fair enough."

"Then we need to follow the rather strong and anxiety-loaded smell to the guy…yes, I can tell it's a guy…and kill him."

"Good plan. Sniff it, boy."

Zane just gave him a look of contained anger.

"No dog jokes?" Jack asked.

Zane slowly shook his head no. Then he took the hat, gave it a careful sniff, and then sniffed around a bit. He walked up and down the whole outside of the building until he found himself exactly where he started and then…

"I got the scent," Zane growled, his pupils turning to slits.

(Youtube music: Sherlock - Pursuit)

Following the scent trail around the city, Zane and Jack, with backpacks full of supplies, find themselves…everywhere.

Driving/running as needed through the alleyways, rooftops, and random stores, they winded in and out of the city, at one point finding themselves in a dark room lit up with only neon lights with a bunch of half-naked beautiful women.

"I think we're in the wrong place…," Jack whispered.

"Unless of course, we all really need to start communicating more and eating dinner together," Zane whispered back. "I know I'm her brother but she has great boobs and enchanting eyes, both of which could make her a very beautiful and compassionate prostitute."

Jack shrugged and nodded. The girls started showing off. Jack walked out. Zane smiled at them and waved. He was about to engage a leggy blue-eyed babe with dark red hair when Jack grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and yanked him out.

The pimps of the hookers started walking behind them as they left.

"Should we do something?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, walk faster," Zane replied. "Matter of fact, run!" And they did.

Thus, their search continued. With another long sniff of the rancid hat, Zane led them to Arcane National Reserve.

"Third time in the span of a month that I've been here," Zane looked around. "At least I'm human and conscious this time."

"Is that a big moment for you?" Jack asked.

"Yes."

Jack shrugged. They went in. The scent trail led to a rather new and unexpected addition to the swamplands of the reserve.

"This is new," Jack whispered as he looked up at a massive jet-black castle. "She's inside?"

"That's what my nose says," Zane replied. "And this place looks familiar. I think it's Castle Sengir."

(See card: Castle Sengir)

"'Castle' who?"

"Baron Sengir on the plane of Ulgrotha took over the dwarven Castle of Morning Light into this boobytrapped hellhole, turned the dwarf king's daughter into a vampire to add insult to injury, and then potentially found the entrance to Narnia."

"Sounds fun. Let's go save my fiancée."

A pulsing pressure on her chest spurred Luna's consciousness. It wasn't a painful pressure. But it wasn't a pleasurable one. It felt like unnecessary, uncomfortable force. There was a pungent, rancid scent in the air. A cold breeze on her legs contrasted with a weighted warmth on her upper body that seemed to move eagerly with each pulse…almost like…like…

Her eyes snapped open. What she saw in front of her made her go from split-second surprise to seething anger. Montague was straddling her at the waist, leaning manically over her with a sickly ecstatic look on his face, as he had one of her well-developed breasts in each of his hands.

She immediately used her toned abs to lift herself up at lightning speed and headbutted Montague in the face. He immediately fell back and clutched his bleeding nose, rolling over to face the ground.

"You sick perv!" Luna yelled at him, managing to land a solid kick on his posterior with her powerful legs and flipping him over his head and on his back, spread eagle.

"You're painfully beautiful…," Montague groaned nasally.

Luna looked down to see two sights that made her even angrier. Her hands were restrained by a familiar artifact.

"Is this that stupid Trip Noose?" she yelled.

(See card: Trip Noose)

"Ha, ha…no powers…," Montague chuckled weakly.

"And…and…did you strip me?" Luna whispered in a disgusted manner. "What the hell am I wearing!?"

She was in absolutely nothing but an extremely skimpy and see-through black nightgown that was extremely high cut, showed plenty of her décolletage, and left ridiculously little to the imagination.

 _And I don't even have my deck_ , Luna thought angrily. _No powers, no real clothes, (I'm naked!) and this jackass has done God-knows-what to me!_

"What did you do to me?" Luna growled, getting up to her feet, feeling worn out already.

Montague got up. "Nothing! I just wanted to play with your boobs first! They're perfect!"

"Ew! Ew! No! Shut up! Ugh!"

"You don't get it! I love you!"

"This isn't love! Love is…not this!"

"But I brought you here to show you I'm better than Ventura! He'll never know you're here because no one knows it was me that took you! I already mentally beat him!"

"You idiot. Jack is the most determined guy I have ever been in love with. He's my everything and a pathetic piece of snot like you will never compare to him. But the worst thing about what you have done is that you have pissed off not one, but three people. Me, who just showed you how physically worthless you are. Jack, who will use you as a musical dartboard for his arrows. And Zane Hunter, my big brother, who is a werewolf courtesy of your teammate, Tibalt, and thus, he followed the scent trail and he's planning on sharpening his claws on your douchey chinstrap beard."

"Ha! Joke's on you! It's raining outside and that will diminish your scent trail!"

"Not my scent trail. Your sticky, disgusting, unshowered scent trail. Where's your hat, Montascrew?"

Montague looked around with a panicked look on his face. "Fuck."

Zane and Jack walked up to the entrance of the castle.

"So, I assume knocking is out of the question?" Zane offered.

"Unless we KNOCK down the door!" Jack countered. He flexed his muscles and grew to his large size.

(See card: Giant Growth)

"Uh, maybe not the best plan," Zane advised. "Remember what I said about this place being…"

Jack slammed on the door, failing to break it, but succeeding in opening a trapdoor underneath them, and down they went.

"BOOOOOBYYYYYTRAAAPEEEEEED!" Zane yelled on his way down.

THUD!

"I hate you…," Zane groaned.

Luna watched Montague run around nervously and rolled her eyes.

"You're easily the least threatening bad guy I've ever met," Luna sighed.

"I'm not a bad guy," Montague argued. "Everything I do is out of love!"

"Do you use demonic magic?"

Montague shrugged and nodded.

"Are you allied with Tibalt and Tamara, both of whom have hurt and killed people that couldn't defend themselves?"

Another nod.

"Are you under the employ of Nicol Bolas, who arguably is basically Satan?"

Slow, sad nod.

"THEN YOU'RE A BAD GUY!"

Montague walked towards Luna, who walked back to try and maintain the distance, mainly due to the smell of the man. But as she walked back, something in her periphery caught her eye. The room was much larger than she thought and cleverly blocked off with large thick pillars. It was a throne room.

(Youtube music: He Who Brings The Night)

"What the hell is that?" Luna asked nervously. She felt like she already knew the answer.

"My altar," Montague pointed towards the throne, which seemed to be made of black skulls and gold. "The Altar of Pride."

"The Altar of NPD, more like. Are those women bowing to it?"

Two scantily clad women kneeled in front the altar, doing the aforementioned action repeatedly and seemingly without shame.

And then Luna noticed it, a massive horned figure behind the altar. It's glowing red eyes seemed to stare into Luna's soul, making her shudder and walk back…right into Montague.

"A little insurance policy for the residents of my wonderful palace, courtesy of the Baron Sengir," Montague whispered as he touched Luna's shoulder with one hand and aimed to touch her butt with the other, but she leaped forward and swung around, kicking her leg up and catching Montague on the face. He doubled over, clutching his already beat up face. She then jumped up onto his back and flipped forward, using him as a springboard. He looked around to see Luna running away.

"Sorry, not sorry! Bye!" she yelled.

"Sheoldred! After her!" Montague yelled through a bloody nose.

(See card: Sheoldred, Whispering One)

Luna ran like crazy, restrained by the hands and the nightgown doing nothing to add to her personal comfort, despite allowing to run with a considerable amount of flexibility. Sounds of pounding footsteps told her the creature was close behind her. She quickly hid in a thin hallway that she barely fit in, and Sheoldred ran past her, a massive black humanoid creature on crab legs and jagged, metallic, and ugly appearance.

She sighed in relief and went down the hallway, following a faint light at the end.

Zane and Jack ran through the castle courtyard, a hellish maze of black stone and dead bodies of various kinds, as a massive winged demon flew after them with a massive flock of black harpies following it. Zane is carrying his Sword of Feast and Famine. Jack is carrying his Bow of Nylea.

(See card: Abhorrent Overlord)

(See card: Sword of Feast and Famine)

(See card: Bow of Nylea)

"What the hell is that thing!?" Jack asked.

"It's called the Abhorrent Overlord and it's never alone!" Zane yelled back.

"Can't your Rampage ability counter armies?"

"We just tried to kill them and they popped back up like fucking daisies!"

"How do you keep the dead down?"

"A deadweight!"

"That's a horribly beautiful pun!"

"Thanks, now hold on!"

Zane grabbed Jack and sped off as the swarm converged on the spot they were at just a moment ago. Zane and Jack found themselves a safe distance away.

(See card: Narrow Escape)

Jack looked around a saw a few doors.

"Maybe this way," Jack went for a door.

"Wait, no!"

(Youtube music: Disturbed By Magi)

Jack opened the door and they were immediately surrounded by a group of massive blood-covered warriors.

(See card: Mogis' Marauders)

"Fuck…run!" Zane yelled. The two of them skedaddled as they parried off the warriors' massive cleaving weapons with their respective sword and bow.

Zane slashed one down and it just respawned.

"Seriously!?" Zane yelled, under duress from multiple attacks.

"Maybe a Deathtouch arrow to the head will work!" Jack shot arrows into the chinks of their armor, killing the warriors instantly. But they respawned as if nothing happened.

"What is this!?" Jack yelled.

"A consequence of your actions!" Zane shot back.

Suddenly, the Abhorrent Overlord and its harpies appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Zane yelled. "We can't catch a break!"

Zane roared and grew out his claws slashing down a few harpies, which immediately respawned.

"Look over there! A way out!" Jack pointing towards the castle. Zane looked and saw it, a lever near the castle's main entrance.

"Jack, no!" Zane tried to stop him, but Jack pulled it.

And down they went, away from the demon, harpies, and warriors, but into the unknown.

"Wrong lever!" Zane yelled on his way down.

Luna snuck out of the tiny passageway, and despite all the snagging and craggily brickwork, managed to keep the tiny scrap of sexual clothing she was wearing. It wasn't much, but at least Montague left something on.

She found herself in front of a massively tall and ornate-looking door.

"A study? A library?" she wondered, then gasped. "A card collection!"

She carefully opened the door.

 _Creepy castle but the security sucks…_ , she thought to herself.

It was a massive study complete with millions of books, a beautiful desk, and a fancy chair. The curving bookcases were layered, following each other back to the point where she couldn't see how many curves and rows there were.

She went straight to the desk and began searching the drawers. She found a letter opener and cut herself free of the Trip Noose.

She didn't find anything until she got to the last drawer and found some random spells. None of them were white, unfortunately, but a few were blue.

 _Okay, I gotta make these count_ , she thought to herself.

Carefully holding onto the cards, she got up and immediately found herself face-to-face with a tall, pale, gaunt-looking man with blood red eyes and a sinister smile.

Backing away, she tried to talk her way out, "Okay, okay, Zane told me about some famous vampires. You're obviously not Sorin Markov or Olivia Voldaren…obviously…slick, black with a douchey ponytail…Baron Sengir?"

(See card: Baron Sengir)

"What is a 'douchey'?" the Baron replied.

"Nothing, nothing!" Luna shrugged. "I'll be going then and…"

The baron leaped at her. She barely dodged him, being small and quick, and ran to the door. The baron zipped in front of her and she had to run into the labyrinth of the bookcases.

Of course, Baron Sengir was fast enough to catch up to her seconds after she found the spot.

"Can I have a moment to just pray?" Luna squeaked.

The Baron smiled, grabbed her with painful force, and immediately sank his fangs into her neck. The thrusting slurp of each gulp of blood felt like a punch to Luna, bruising her muscles and bones, making her gasp and scream with each thrust, until…crack went her spine…and she turned to vapor.

(See card: Clever Impersonator)

The Baron stared at the vapor in disbelief and roared.

The real Luna, crouching on the opposite side of the bookcase, shot out like a bullet to try and make her getaway, and BOOM!

Sheoldred burst into the room and swung at Luna.

"Good luck defeating my army of the night, Luna Howell!" Montague yelled, appearing atop Sheoldred.

A freakish praetor of Phyrexia in front of her and a bloodthirsty and furious vampire behind her, Luna tried her hardest to not panic.

Of course, she wasn't aware that her brother and her fiancé were falling into oblivion just outside the castle.

As the three of them stared down external demons, they found themselves wishing for each other's presence…so close and yet so far…

(To be continued…)


	10. Chapter 10 - Rampage - Part 2 - MidFinal

**Chapter 10 – Rampage – Part 2 – Midseason Finale**

During most of Jack's life, he struggled with a constant feeling of superiority, to the point of often not wanting to deal with people. A borderline hermit, he was home-schooled and never engaged in family life. A straightforward thought-process combined with an overly-analytical mind and an opinionated led to a rather complicated man.

When Jack was twenty-three, he met the siblings, Zane Hunter and Luna Howell, and instantly knew what it was like to feel love for another human being. Luckily, it was Luna he fell in love with because Zane thought he was an opinionated little shit, but a good enough man…for someone else. He realized that Jack was in love with Luna and she with him.

This turned into a city-wide battle between a pissed-off brother and a love-struck hermit. Luckily for Jack, Luna had been teaching him magic. During the battle, Zane dealt a heavy blow to Jack, which caused both of them and Luna, who was trying to block the hit, to Planeswalk to a medieval paradise full of knights and angels.

After this adventure, Zane became far more accepting of his sister's boyfriend.

"He never had to like me," Jack explained to Luna. "And I don't have to like him. I just have to be good enough. That's why he's angry. Just in case I'm not."

A few months later, he moved in. And then Zane had to like him.

Staring down a mostly-naked Luna with perverse intent in his eyes, Montague snickered from atop his Sheoldred, the Whispering One.

(See card: Sheoldred, the Whispering One)

Behind her stood an enraged Baron Sengir, his mouth covered in blood that was slowly evaporating, evidence of the fact that a moment ago, he tried to drain the blood of a Clever Impersonator copying Luna. Luna saw the result and almost burst out laughing, catching herself at the last second.

(See card: Baron Sengir)

(See card: Clever Impersonator)

"What's so funny?" the Baron growled.

"Your stupid face," Luna shot back. "Can't tell real and fake blood apart or are you just desperate?"

"Ha!" Montague laughed. "Big words for someone trying to cast the bare minimum spells without their deck, and…wait, magic? Shouldn't you be tied up with a Trip Noose right now?"

(See card: Trip Noose)

"Worst bad guy ever!" Luna rolled her eyes.

Theme Song (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 8)

I. Chotto yogoreta SUUTSUKEESU wo motte

Nani mo shirazu ni sora kara orita

Chizu no mukou, koko ni sanjou

Yume ni mita akogare no basho

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Yea Yea Yea (Yea Yea Yea)

The Rock City Boy (The Rock City Boy)

Oh baby JANJAN kabe norikoeyou with my guitar

Todoku made oh yeah utaou Just music sore dake de

Kimi ni sasageru yo oh yeah

MAJI de kyoutsuuten no hou ga ooi nchau no? with my guitar

Sagashinagara yea utaou, just love tada sore dake de,

Oikake get free?! My perfect dream!

Yea Yea Yea

The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

Ne teru toki mo

Oki teru toki mo

Yume wo mikata ni shiyo yo Yea

II. Along with a little dirty suitcase,

I descended from the sky.

Across the map, it called me here,

the place I've longed and dreamed for.

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

yea yea yea, The Rock City Boy!

Oh baby, strum strum, I'll overcome the walls with my guitar.

Reaching far, oh yeah, I'll sing.

Just music, that's all,

I dedicate it to you, yeah.

Seriously, don't we have so much in common? With my guitar,

let's search, yeah, and sing.

Just love, only just that,

chasing to be free!? My perfect dream.

yea yea yea The Rock City Boy (boy boy boy)

When I'm sleeping, when I'm awake, I support my dreams.

I wanna believe the singing on beat,

most recently is like recess for me.

Pretty pretty please, no birds and the bees,

but ecstasy with extra cheese.

Rhyming rhino sounding like bono,

all smacked up with a black jack bottle.

When I say "ho", you say "hey"

You don't understand what I'm saying, huh?

III. Team shot

Superimposed shots of members

Logo

Montague's castle

Zane vs. Tibalt

Luna vs. Tamara

Mac and Hannah run from baddies

Becky vs. baddies

Mary and her Thopters

Jack vs. Montague

Montague rages with power

Montague's demon

Zane, Luna, and Jack, ready to fight

Allies

Zane and Luna fly down with angel wings

Battle scenes.

Team shot

Logo

Waking up in darkness, Zane looked around and found that the dark didn't affect his wolf eyes. Everything looked a bit red, but he could see it. He still had his Sword of Feast and Famine, which cast some light in the area as well.

Jack was up, too. He immediately jumped to his feet and began looking around.

"If you're looking for another trapdoor to knock us through, can you find one with a softer landing?" Zane complained. "Geez, I thought I was reckless. What's wrong with you anyway?"

"I need to get my girl back. What else?" Jack replied.

"Yeah, same for my sister. But normally people expect me to go off the rails, but I can't do that with you the way you are. Montague hit a sore spot, didn't he?"

"Montague?"

"Yeah, he's the guy that took Luna. Figured it out when I smelled that disgusting hat, but I didn't tell you because I figured if you knew, you might go off and try to find him instead of waiting to find her as is our first priority. Because now that you know, you found that it hits your pride in a deep way, doesn't it?"

"What are you trying to say?"

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Dragon Civil War)

"You're hurt, aggravated, and anxious, and you're making dumb mistakes because of it. And look at this. I, of all people, end up having to be the goddamn voice of reason. That's the gravity of this situation. You're so far gone that I have to start making sense. It makes me sick. And trust me, I get it, I'm worried about that little girl, too. But we have to keep it together."

"I am keeping it together! You're always happy to say I have ego problems!"

At this point, a creature resembling a man wearing a gold mask and wrapped in gray robes caught to the two of them and was surprised to see them arguing. The group of Mogis' Marauders was following the creature.

(See card: Gray Merchant of Asphodel)

(See card: Mogis' Marauder)

"You do have ego problems!" Zane yelled. "You never admit when you're wrong! I've spent the last few hours trying to drill that into your giant, fluffed head! You kept making dumbass mistakes and throwing us down boobytrap after boobytrap! Your biggest issue is your pride."

"Uh….," the Merchant tried to interrupt them.

"I'm trying to storm through this place! Don't you wanna get her out?" Jack shot back. "If you're really gonna stand in my way, I got no choice but to put you down!"

This finally pushes Zane over the edge.

"Gentlemen…I…," the Merchant spoke up.

"You think I'm trying to stop you!?" Zane yelled. "You idiot!"

Jack and Zane start wrestling and rolling around on the floor while yelling insults.

"You pyromaniacal, psychopathic prick!"

"You pompous, lazy douchebag!"

"Gentleman!" the Merchant pulled them apart only to take two fists to the face. The force of the punches blew out the back of his head. The Merchant fell down on the spot. Zane and Jack stared at him, breathing hard with wide, angry eyes.

"You're right," Jack spoke up.

"Excuse me?" Zane sassed back. "Could you please repeat that again? I'm WHAT?"

"An asshole with a temper shorter than his height!" Jack shot back. "But you're right. I'm letting my emotions get in the way. I suppose if anyone understands that, it's you."

"So, we beat each other up. How about we act intelligently and get Luna back? And we can go home and beat each up some more?"

"Sound good, and…"

The Gray Merchant of Asphodel stood up suddenly and roared. Zane and Jack screamed in surprise.

Jack punched him back. The Merchant swayed on the spot and growled, "By the order of Master Montague Roman, I shall collect your souls as retribution!"

(Youtube music: Doctor Who - Jack's Theme)

Jack leaped into action, notching an arrow and letting loose at the Marauders. Zane and Jack slashed and shot, respectively, blasting the Marauders with all their power as they just rose back up. The Merchant became impatient and ran towards them.

(See card: Hail of Arrows)

"Let me handle this," Zane offered. Jack nodded and handed him a card. Zane took it and looked at it.

"Thanks," Zane smiled. Jack smiled back. Bro-ment.

(See card: Sigarda's Aid)

Zane ran towards the Merchant. Thanks to Jack's gift, equipments immediately flew out of the ground and equipped themselves to Zane. He now carried a massive, golden scimitar, a lustrous reflective shield, and a shining helm that seemed to be made out of metal that moved like it was made of flames.

(See card: Sword of Kaldra)

(See card: Shield of Kaldra)

(See card: Helm of Kaldra)

"Go back to hell!" Zane yelled and slashed down the Merchant. It dissipated into nothingness.

Jack pulled out a special arrow and combined it with his Hail of Arrows spell and shot it down on the army, pinning them into the earth.

(See card: Infused Arrows)

"That oughta keep you down," Jack growled.

Jack looked over at Zane.

"What?" Jack stared blankly, pointing at Zane's new digs.

"The three Equipments of Kaldra," Zane explained. "The helm makes me faster and more powerful. The shield makes all the pieces and their wearer indestructible. And the sword, well, that makes it so when stuff dies, it stays dead."

"And it didn't occur to you to do this before!?" Jack yelled at him.

"It takes fuck-ton of energy to use them and I was using mine up trying to recover from all your mistakes!" Zane yelled back. "Besides, you could have used those Infused Arrows before, too!"

"I wasn't thinking straight!"

"Enough! Let's go! We got someone to save. And she's waiting for us."

Zane and Jack walked on towards, still arguing to an extent.

Back inside the castle, Luna faces down Sheoldred, Baron Sengir, and Montague will a small handful of cards and no way to recharge her mana pool.

"I'm asking nicely, Luna," Montague pleaded. "Please join me! My master and my teammates would rather have me kill you! But I wanna save you! Because I love you!"

"Thank you!" Luna sweetly replied. "But you're disgusting and you smell like dead plants and animals in water, so no."

"Enough of this!" Baron Sengir exclaimed. "Let's drain her and feed her flesh to the Marauders!"

"I'm right here!" Luna complained. "Just tell me your whole plan, why don't ya?"

"Quiet, Baron!" Montague ordered. Baron Sengir just growled.

"Why are you so into me and so against Jack anyway?" Luna asked.

"Because you're perfect!" Montague replied ecstatically. Luna rolled her eyes. "I loved you ever since I saw you. Jack, on the other hand, ruined my life!"

"Why, because I picked him?"

"No, you see, I was at the National Guard training and every time, Jack wrecked me in every test and exercise. Plus, when you came to visit, I realized that I love you but you went to him, my archrival!"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Depression got the best of me and I resorted to…medication…"

"Cocaine?"

"It was medicinal! And Jack found me and turned me in, got me kicked out the National Guard, and ruined any chance I had with you! So, I take it upon myself to make US happen!"

"Wow, I feel soooo bad for you… Seriously, get over your arrogant self! You screwed up monumentally over a fantasy you made up in your head after seeing a girl one time! You don't even really know me! You're just stuck on an idea of me! Jack learned everything about me and accepted me! He sees my bad moments and sees the moments where I don't feel like loving anyone! Even if he wasn't my boyfriend, I still wouldn't be with you!"

Montague's face turned red. "YOU BITCH!"

Sheoldred's arms came crashing down and…

WOOSH!

Luna stumbled as she nearly fell down carpeted stairs, barely saving herself from twisting her ankle by grabbing the railing. She was red-faced and breathing hard.

"Short-range teleportation magic…what a head-rush," she gasped for breath.

(See card: Essence Flux)

She got to her feet once she had recovered and walked/ran down the stairs to find that, by some luck, she was on one end of an entrance hall about as large as a football field and the entrance was in plain sight on the other side. She had played football before.

She started down the hall and got about halfway when the trio of master and his two servants burst through the back. Luna tried to move faster, but she could feel her leg muscles becoming heavy and sore.

"Sheoldred, stop her! Wait, what!?" Montague yelled.

Luna looked back and saw something erupt out of the ground. Something…or someone…that made Montague stop in his tracks. Luna stopped as well.

(Youtube music: Fortress of Seduction)

"TAMARA!?" Montague exclaimed. "What are you doing here!? I thought…uh…I…uh…thought you were…recovering…and not being here…why are you here!?"

"Because Tibalt told me about your plan," Tamara replied. "If you dare touch Luna, I will end you. She is mine."

"Of course not, Tamara! I would never touch a single brown hair on that sweet little girl's head!" Montague looked over at Luna with a pleading expression. Did he expect her to play along or something?

Luna just tried to sneak away slowly as Tamara continued, "Stick to facing Ventura yourself without dragging the rest of us along this time. The last two times you tried to 'help', you either monumentally fucked up or you didn't accomplish anything! It's no wonder Luna doesn't like you. She prefers power over sniveling incompetence."

Luna hoped against hope that this didn't cause Montague over the edge, but as she thought it…

"HOW DARE YOU!?" Montague exclaimed. "JUST FOR THAT, I'M HAPPY I TOOK HER! SHE'S RIGHT THERE, BITCH! MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Tamara whipped around and saw Luna walking away.

"Luna!?" Tamara yelled.

"Oh, c'mon!" Luna whined and started running. The villains gave chase.

Luna tried her best to ignore the pain of her leg muscles starting to seize up and the build-up of blisters on her feet as she ran to the door. An idea ran through her head and even though it was risky, she had to try, and WOOSH!

She teleported to less than ten yards away from the door, but stumbled. She rolled across the rough floor as her energy left her. She was seeing stars.

Trying to get up, she felt a wet warmth on her face. She touched her nose and found that it was bleeding. But the door was so close, and…BOOM!

The door flew open and the wind gust blew away any chance of her escape as the massive form of Tibalt blocked her way. She stood up, swaying and put her fists up.

"Tibalt!? Why are you here!?" Montague yelled.

"Because the master sent me to make sure you didn't fuck up another mission," Tibalt replied in a surprisingly calm voice. "And judging by how close this bacon strip got to getting out of the frying pan, I'd say you're a near-fail."

"Bacon…strip…!?" Luna repeated as her temper overtook her pain. "LISTEN HERE, YOU ASSHOLE! HOW DARE YOU!? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!? YOU THINK YOU AND YOUR BASTARD DRAGON MASTER CAN JUST COMMAND YOU AND YOU CAN JUST KIDNAP ME AND I'LL BE FINE!?"

Luna poked Tibalt in the pectoral as that's the highest she could reach with her energy levels, catching Tibalt by surprise and shocking Tamara and Montague.

"Does she have a death wish!?" Tamara squeaked.

"She's crazy," Montague replied. "And she's still hot."

"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS HAVE TRIED TO RAPE ME, CHASED ME AROUND LIKE I'M SOME STUPID PIECE OF MEAT, TRIED TO SUCK MY BLOOD, AND RAN ME RAGGED THROUGH THIS DAMN CASTLE! AND I…ACK!"

Tibalt grabbed Luna by the throat and lifted her five-foot-five body off the ground. Tamara and Montague gasped in horror.

"Why did I agree to be a part of this?" Baron Sengir sighed.

Luna could barely keep her eyes open due to Tibalt's powerful grip around her skinny neck, but over Tibalt's wild blond spikes, she saw something that made her smile.

"Any last words?" Tibalt offered.

"Yeah…," she groaned. "In the immortal words of my big brother, 'FUCK OFF!'" Luna yelled and kicked her legs forward, slamming Tibalt in the face and dropping down to the ground. She stumbled and fell onto her butt. Tibalt actually got knocked down and, from his upside-down vantage point, saw what Luna saw. Zane and Jack in the distance, both of them having caught sight of this event.

"Hunter!" Tibalt growled.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Main Theme)

Zane surged up a wave of red energy as he ran around and launched himself into the air. Everyone stared in awe as they barely followed the speeding comet that was Zane as he collided into the castle wall and obliterated the entire wall of the entrance. He slammed down with enough force to obliterate the brick floor. Tamara and Tibalt were blasted away.

(See card: Reckless Charge)

(See card: Awe Strike)

(See card: Demolish)

"I'm gonna burn me some bitches," he growled through a mouth full of fangs and flames, his red eyes glowing.

Jack grew to monumental size and launched another blast wave through the ground, sending Zane shooting back up towards Sheoldred and Baron Sengir.

(See card: Giant Growth)

Montague got out of the way as Zane obliterated Sheoldred with a single swing and then focused his attention on Baron Sengir, who ran at Zane. Zane sidestepped his assault and stabbed the vampire in the back, pouring volts of electricity into the vampire while restoring his own energy. The vampire was reduced to a crispy, gray corpse before dissipating into nothingness.

(See card: Lightning Helix)

"Nice try with Sheoldred's necromancy powers, Monty," Zane growled. "And by the way, Baron Sengir works better with other vampires, idiot."

"That's cold, man!" Montague yelled back. "I have no choice, but to activate my ultimate power! Escape!"

Montague ran away.

"Um…okay…," Zane just stood there, nonplussed. She shook it off and pulled out a water bottle. He began drinking it as he walked back to Luna.

"Thanks for coming," Luna sighed.

"Of course, I'm your big brother, and I-"

He looked down and nearly choked on the water, spitting some out, when he saw what Luna was wearing.

"What the hell is that!?" he yelled.

"Hey, be mad at Montague!"

"Oh, I'm mad! MONTAGUE!"

A surge of power burst through the area.

"What the-?" Zane exclaimed.

"I think he activated his Altar of Pride!" Luna yelled.

Jack ran over to them. "What are you wearing!?"

"Never wearing a nightie…ever…again," Luna growled. She and Jack embraced and had a brief moment before…BOOM!

The castle began shaking.

In response, Zane and Jack used their magic to heal Luna, her blisters slowly closing and the blood flowing back into her and her leg muscles feeling fresh again.

(See card: Heroes' Reunion)

Jack handed Luna the backpack they had been carrying.

"We got food, water, change of clothes just in case, and thank God, plus your deck. Just please stay here and let us handle this. You need to rest. Promise me," Jack explained. Luna nodded and then pulled Jack into a tight embrace. They began making out.

"Okay, I'd assume Montague will be returning with his demon and…what the hell?" Zane saw Luna and Jack kissing. "Seriously! Is this really the moment?"

Still kissing.

"And break."

Still kissing.

"And breathe! Seriously, how do you keep going? Ugh, walking away!"

They separate.

"Get over here!" Luna bossed him. Zane walked back to her and she gave him a big hug.

(Youtube music: All Our Days - Instrumental)

"Sorry we're so late, we got held up a lot," Zane apologized.

Luna hugged them both tight. "It's okay. I knew you guys were coming. My boys!"

"This is a nice moment and everything," Jack replied. "But there's a demon on the way."

BOOM! Another rattling of the castle and the Altar of Pride feel down from the floor above. Montague was sitting on it.

(Youtube music: Grimoire Heart OST)

"Say hello to my big bad demon," Montague announced. "With my devotion to black magic steady with every creature you destroyed being resurrected by Sheoldred."

"So that's why…," Zane replied. "Figures you'd try something sneaky like that. Too bad for you. My Sword of Kaldra renders those creatures without a corpse to return to."

"I'll admit it," Montague growled. "That was a setback. I had to regroup my forces just to have enough creatures around me."

"What does he mean?" Luna asked.

"Devotion," Zane replied. "The amount of black mana he used to bring out all those creatures results in a held power of sorts. His dedication and allegiance to black mana powers his demon!"

"And here it is!" Montague announced. "Meet the almighty Lucillo, Dark Hubris! Demonic Pact!"

(See card: Demonic Pact)

Montague surged with power. The Altar throne's arms rose up and roared. The legs grew into a quadrupedal animal's legs. A massive reptilian tail grew out of the butt. Montague sank into the upper back as a third head grew out of his…special place…

The monstrous three-headed hellhound known as Lucillo, Dark Hubris roared at the heroes.

"Down, boy?" Jack offered.

"I'll put him down!" Zane yelled and charged. Luna began putting her regular clothes back on.

Behind Luna and Jack, Tibalt roared and charged them. Jack charged right back. Zane swung and sliced to parry Lucillo's three heads, loaded with razor-sharp teeth.

 _Great! Lucillo's even stronger with his own presence!_ Zane gritted his fangs.

Over by Jack and Tibalt, Jack notched an arrow and smiled, "I don't normally fight you. This is sorta fun!"

"Let me show you exactly how fun it is! Demonic Pact!" With the sound of crunching bones and spurting blood, Tibalt transformed into his canid form…but further. He grew horns, dark gray spiked growths of bone. His face contorted further as he grew a second pair of red eyes. Massive leathery wings crunched and unfolded out of his back. He roared at Jack and shot up into the air.

"I may need help," Jack admitted. At that moment, his pocket began glowing. He pulled out his blank card, which immediately turned into his angel. Raphility, the King's Power.

"Well, then," Jack smiled. "Time to fight on the same battlefield! Go!"

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Released Power)

Jack's clothes turned into golden armor embedded with green jewels. Purple feathers grew over his chest and turned into a feathery helmet with a Roman-style plume. His now clawed hands picked up a massive bow and quiver of arrows as his clawed feet launched him into the air. Massive purple wings supported his flight.

Tibalt roared and flew towards Jack, who released a single arrow that turned into millions that rained down on Tibalt. Tibalt sent a wave of black lightning towards Jack, who put up his wings to block the blast, then spread them to release razor-sharp feathers towards Tibalt, blasting him away.

(See card: Bituminous Blast)

(See card: Wing Shards)

Tibalt roared and began absorbing power.

"I don't think Jack's really good for fighting a demon-werewolf," Luna realized, now fully clothed. "Even with his angel!"

Tibalt grew to the size of an elephant as his hands gained the appearance and texture of glowing armor made of wrought iron. He rammed Jack who barely withstood the blast, falling to the ground.

Tibalt descended to the ground and raced towards Jack, whose video game instincts kicked in…and he ran towards Zane.

(See card: Demonic Appetite)

(See card: Fists of the Demigod)

On the ground, Zane had put on his own angel armor, Azrience, the Armor of Justice, but was also suffering against Montague and Lucillo. Zane blasted a head but the effect was reduced by a power surge that was entering Lucillo. Waves upon waves of darkness. Lucillo grew to the size the whole room and threatened to bulge past the ceiling.

"How many creatures have you summoned?" Zane groaned.

"More than you can imagine!" Montague cackled. "Lucillo, destroy!"

Lucillo released wave after wave of dark energy at Zane who felt like he was taking thick plates of steel to the face, one after another. With the last one, Zane raced towards the demon dog, trying to punch it, but the dog bit his arm. Luckily, he pulled his arm out of the armor. The arm armor exploded in the dog's left head. A replacement materialized around Zane's arm.

"Okay, bad call," Zane gulped.

"Zane…," Luna sighed. "He's not even really good with dogs…"

"End this," Montague ordered with a psychotically manic look on his face.

The maws of the beast opened and charged up with dark energy.

"Aw….," Zane started.

The dog released a spiraling vortex of dark energy at Zane.

"CRAAAAAAP!" Zane flew away at super-speed.

Zane and Jack sped towards each other.

"You wanna handle the crazy dog!?" Zane yelled.

"Sure, you wanna handle Tibby!?" Jack yelled back.

"Where is he?"

"Right there! That thing is him!"

"WHAT IN THE UNHOLY FUCK!? I didn't know werewolves could do that!"

"You go high?"

"And you'll hit low!"

Zane and Jack high-fived each other as they ran past.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Main Theme 2016)

Zane immediately shot towards Tibalt and punched him in the face, releasing small missiles as he did, blasting the demon wolf back. As they shot back up to the air, Zane and Tibalt parried back and forth.

Zane pulled back and launched a massive missile at Tibalt, who actually bit it. The missile exploded, destroying all of Tibalt's fangs and reducing his face to a bloody mess.

"Burn, bitch, burn," Zane growled.

Over by the ground, Lucillo released a second spiral wave attack, but Jack released his feather arrows from his wings and countered the demon's attack perfectly.

Jack pulled out his Infused Arrow and shot it at Lucillo. The arrow triplicated and each one hit a head. The demon fell, pinned down with the power of the arrows.

"And stay," Jack ordered.

"How dare you!?" Montague whined. "First you bust me for drugs at the National Guard training and now this!?"

"For drugs…?" Jack wondered. "Wait, that asshole was you!?"

"You didn't even remember me!?"

"Is this important!?" Luna yelled. "Man! Fine, if I can't help by fighting, I can do this since I got my deck back! Curse Break!"

Luna gathered her last few bits of energy and send waves of magic at both villains. Montague was shot out of Lucillo who howled in pain and shrank in size. Tibalt's demon attributes disappeared as he also shrank.

(See card: Curse Break)

"What the hell is this?" Tibalt looked at his hands in disbelief. Then he looked at Luna and shot towards. "I'll kill you!"

Zane caught up to Tibalt, grabbed him, and threw him towards Lucillo, putting both canines down in a heap. Zane roared and released a massive fireball surrounded by missiles.

(See card: Fireball)

Tibalt stood and prepared to attack.

Jack raised a wave of sand from the rubble on the ground and worked it into Zane's attack. The combination of fire, firepower, and coarse, glass-like sand blasted Tibalt and Lucillo. When the smoke cleared, Tibalt had been reduced to his normal self (albeit a bloody pulp) and Lucillo was nothing but black vapor dissipating into the ground.

(See card: Sand Blast)

Montague popped out of the debris, clothes torn with a psychotic look on his face. Tamara pulled herself out of the rubble as well.

"You idiot!" Tamara yelled at Montague.

"No, I can't!" Montague screeched. "I can't lose! I need to prove myself!"

"GET OVER YOURSELF!" Luna yelled back. "You failed! Get over it! Your plan was stupid and you left yourself open to a counterattack and you got your butt kicked!"

"Never!" Montague hissed. "You don't get it! I spent years proving that I could be strong enough! Nothing worked! I even tried to join the army!"

"And were stupid enough to do drugs," Jack interrupted.

"Fuck off!" Montague shot back. "It was only after that I heard of my lord, Nicol Bolas, and I sought him out. He accepted me and gave me power! He unlocked my Planeswalker spark through trials of hellfire and darkness!"

"Blah, blah, blah!" Jack sighed.

Montague growled. "I'll show you how strong I can be!"

"NO!" Tamara yelled/

Montague looked over at Luna and lunged at her. Zane and Jack tried to fly over to her, but Montague closed in first. Luckily, Luna dodged. Unluckily, rip!

A large tear appeared on Luna's jacket causing small scratch appeared on Luna's shoulder from Montague's yellowed and uncut nails.

Montague fell away as everyone else saw the scratch.

"Ow!" Luna winced. "Personal hygiene! Ever hear of it, jerk!?"

Zane and Jack's protective instincts kicked in. They began heading towards Montague when suddenly…

POW! Tamara delivered a painful-looking uppercut to Montague's jaw and knocked him down.

"HUH!?" Zane, Luna, and Jack stared in shock.

"You bastard! How dare you hurt my precious Luna!?" Tamara yelled at him. Luna just facepalmed.

Tamara turned to face the heroes. "Do with him whatever you wish. Peace out. Bye, Luna, love you later."

"Good-bye," Luna shot back. "And if I ever see you again, it'll be too soon."

"So, what do we do with the walking pig sty?" Zane asked.

Luna walked over to him as he stood up and slapped him across the face. A hard, painful slap of disproportionate strength that left Montague's left ear ringing. Then, she walked off.

Jack walked up to Montague as he tried to stand back up and sucker punched him back down.

Montague looked up through coughs and blurry vision to see Zane waving at him. Zane lifted his foot.

"No, no! NO! NO! NO!" Montague tried to plead, but CRUNCH!

Zane kicked his face into a bloody mess and the two conquering heroes walked off.

"We did it…," Zane sighed, breathing hard.

"About freaking time," Jack replied.

Luna sat down in relief. But it didn't last long…

BOOM! Zane and Jack started in horror as the worn-down castle had reached its limit after the pounding it took at the hands of Zane and Jack, professional accidental demolitionists.

"You two literally never learned to pull your punches, did you?" Luna sighed.

"AW, CRAP!" Zane yelled. "We need to haul ass!"

"Luna, hands up!" Jack added.

Luna put the backpack on and raised her hands. Zane and Jack flew by, each one grabbing one of her arms and pulling her away. Within seconds, they were flying far above the wreckage of the castle, which sank into the swamp and out of existence.

"Bye-bye, Castle Sengir," Zane spoke up.

"Were you a fan?" Jack asked.

"It was a fun story."

They heard a soft breathing and saw that Luna had actually fallen asleep between them.

"Tell me on the way," Jack offered.

They flew back with their favorite person in the whole world as Zane regaled Jack with the story of Baron Sengir and his fight against the Dwarves of Ulgrotha.

Over the next few days, Jack managed to make Luna feel secure again after Montague's near-rape. Of course, Zane's wolf powers allowed him to hear too much of what was going on. Zane made Luna feel better by surrounding her days with good food and great TV shows. They tried extra hard for her. And it wasn't just for the next few days. It seemed like they began trying even harder on the regular and soon Luna never had to worry. Her big brother and best friend on one side and her fiancée and one true love on the other, Luna knew she would always be okay.

In the swamplands of the Arcane National Reserve, Tamara rose out of the water with a fish flopping on her head. She whacked the fish off, pulled Tibalt and Montague out of the water, and tossed them onto the shore. She took a deep breath and yelled.

"YOU ASSHOLES BETTER WAKE UP SOON AND ARRANGE A DAMN SHOWER FOR ME! THANKS TO YOUR STUPID SELVES, I SMELL LIKE SHIT! I HATE YOU BOTH SO MUCH! LUNA GETS ALL THE GOOD GUYS AND I'M STUCK WITH DOGBREATH AND DICK-FOR-BRAINS! I NEED MORE FRIENDS!"

And she left in a huff.


	11. Chapter 11 - Trample - Part 1

**Chapter 11 – Trample – Part 1**

(Youtube music: Hataraku Maou-sama! OST - Table at Maou's Home)

Snore after snore, Mac happily snoozed away on the couch (a snot bubble was rising and falling in his nostril as he breathed) as Zane glared at him with a look of incredulous irritation.

Zane, broom in hand, is trying to clean up after a party.

Luna leads her parents out. The rest of the team was cleaning up and enjoying the leftovers of all the party food. Mostly IHOP take-out and muffin cups.

"Thanks for coming out," Luna said to her parents. "I'm sure Zane just had the best birthday ever. Isn't that right, Zane?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Zane yelled at Mac, snapping him out of his peaceful slumber.

"WHAT!?" Mac yelled back. "I'M SLEEPING HERE!"

"I noticed! We're supposed to be cleaning up here and you're sawing logs!"

"Hey, I worked overtime last night and I feel tired!"

"You park cars for a living!"

"You solve crimes and make art!"

"You sleep with your mouth open!"

"You dance naked to 'I'm Gonna Be'!"

"I did that once!"

"GUYS!" Luna stepped in and pulled them apart. "What is wrong with the both you!?"

"I'm honestly getting real sick of your laziness!" Zane explained. "You barely get involved in fights! You show up wearing an entire Best Buy's worth of tech! And you barely use any offensive magic! Your gargoyles and Colossus do all the work for you!"

"Uh…should we leave?" Marilyn asked, nervously.

"What the hell is this about?" Mary asked. "You two never fight like this."

Zane blows hot steam out of his nostrils and leaves. Mac humphs and walks away himself.

Luna and others finally say their byes to her parents and sit down to discuss what just happened.

"Okay, what happened between the two of them?" Hannah asked.

"Sit down, children, as the good bard, Jack, spins ye a tale of two friends turned mortal enemies!" Jack announced.

"Can't you explain this in a normal way?" Becky droned.

"No one on this team does anything in a normal way," Mary replied.

Everyone muttered in agreement.

"THIS GODDAMN CAKE IS FUCKING DELICIOUS! WHY IS IT SO FUCKING DELICIOUS!?" Zane's voice resounded from his room.

Becky held out her hand and announced, "Exhibit A through Zane."

Everyone clapped.

Theme Song: (Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Opening Theme 4)

Yo Ho kaji wo kire torikaji ippaide

Yo Ho uousaou ikina jinsei

Hi ga ochiru koroni wa shukkou no utage

abishiku nanka nai ikiterya mata dokkade aeru

Mukai kaze buchinuki tabidate

Namida namida kareru made otoko nara tsuyogatte

Tomo yo tomo yo itsuno hi ka waratte

Katai katai kizuna wo sa tashikame aeru youni

Ima kagayaki dasu mirai no chizu wo saa tsukami tore

YO HO - let loose the rudder, hard to port

YO HO - helter skelter, the best kind of life

When the sun goes down, we'll have a farewell bash

Don't be sad,

If we make it,

We'll meet again somewhere,

We'll set off straight through the headwind

Tears... tears... until none are left - a man's gotta be tough

Friends... friends... someday we'll be laughing

As if we have to make sure these bonds are firm

Now we take hold of future's map, which begins to shine

Iago's Defenders surround the area

Team

Logo

Allies

Baddies

Argus Silver

PSMP Spaceship

Lilianna and Tezzeret

Battle scenes. Mac vs. Iago. Zane and Mary vs. Calibos.

Luna explodes in anger

Heroes fight back.

Calibos releases power as Zane and Mary fight back.

Logo

"So, about a week ago," Jack explained. "Zane and I got home with Luna after rescuing her from Montague's greasy, creepy hands."

"How greasy?" Mary asked Luna.

"I had to use bottles upon bottles of acne and exfoliating creams on my boobs to make sure they didn't break out," Luna replied.

"EWWWW!" Mary exclaimed.

"Anyways," Jack continued. "Once we got back, Mac had just gotten back from work and we told him what was up. He immediately replied, 'Man, Montague's lucky to get to second base!'"

"Oh, God," Becky facepalmed. "Now it makes sense. How badly did Zane throttle him?"

"He threw me out of the window!" Mac exclaimed, having walked back into the living room. "I didn't have any food or water or even my deck, so I couldn't even use magic! No one even came to help! Eventually, I fell asleep out there and had to hang on to the tree like a fucking sloth."

"The word sloth is right," Zane replied, also having shown up with an irritated expression on his face.

"Yeah? You're just a grumpy, rude old man in a hot body!" Mac yelled.

"Um…okay…," Luna replied. "Are we just gonna ignore that?"

"You're just a flaccid, unmotivated sloth!" Zane shot back.

Both of them start arguing like crazy.

"Is he planning on picking a fight with everyone?" Jack asked as the argument continued. "First me, now Mac."

"Zane's a dad-friend," Luna explained. "Bad jokes, loves food, and complains like crazy, but also very overprotective and doesn't hesitate to whack people over the head when they need a good whacking. And Mac is like an eternal teenager."

"What does that make me?" Hannah asked, excitedly.

"The baby," Jack replied.

"Oh…," Hannah dropped. "That makes too much sense…"

"Jack is the lazy yet motivated father, Luna is the mom that takes care of all, Zane's the crazy uncle that takes care of people alongside his sister, Hannah is the baby, Becky is cool aunt, and Mac's the teenager," Mary observed. "What does that make me?"

Everyone looked at each other like they totally knew.

"Anyways," Luna got and pushed both Zane and Mac back. "Stop it!"

"He started it!" Mac whined.

Hannah walked over to Mac. "Hey, why don't we go to your room and just relax, huh?"

"Fine," Mac sighed. "I don't wanna be here anyway!"

Mac left and Hannah hurried behind him, giving the team an apologetic look as she did.

Zane scoffed and left.

"Where are you going?" Luna demanded.

"Outta here," Zane shot back.

Zane left the treehouse.

Luna sighed. "Crazy uncle that needs to take care of himself."

(Youtube music: Hataraku Maou-sama! OST - The Hero Stays at the Devil's Castle)

Mac lay on his bed as Hannah looked over his stuff. Computer parts and random dissected machines were strewn across two desks. A computer was downloading a game and playing alternative music at a low volume.

A whiteboard had potential plans and ideas for weird experiments.

Hannah looked closer at one. "'Angel Card Jumpstart Mechanism?' You're gonna try to activate the angel cards with jumper cables?"

"Kinda," Mac replied.

"What are you gonna do about the current issue?" Hannah asked, nervously.

"Probably sleep," Mac answered, nonchalantly.

"That's not a way to solve this!" Hannah yelled at him. "Everyone expects you to just lay down and do nothing! You gotta prove em wrong!"

"I know, but how? Have you met Zane? He's super hard-headed. There were people in school that called him Zane Hard-Header. We didn't have the most imaginative bullies at our school."

"What was your nickname?"

"Either Panty-Pisser or Chink-Lover."

"What the heck!?"

"Anyways, what's the point?"

"The point is that Zane cares about you despite all the yelling and tossing you out the window, and if you appeal to his rational mind, I'm sure he'll listen. What's the worst that could happen?"

Mac got a fleeting image of Zane reducing him to ashes with a single sneeze. "I could die."

"I think you're exaggerating."

"I don't think he'll care."

"I don't think so!"

Hannah grabbed his foot and yanked him off the bed the long way and pulled him to the floor.

"You're surprisingly strong for someone that's five-foot-two and 105 pounds," Mac muffled through a mouth full of floor.

"Let's go!" Hannah grabbed him and dragged him off.

A minute or two later, they find them themselves in front of the dreaded KEEP OUT sign in front of Zane's door.

"What goes on in there?" Hannah asked, nervously.

"It's just a dopey sign to keep weirdos out in case we have guests," Mac replied. "The door is always unlocked but Zane's rep is generally a better deterrent than any lock."

Hannah knocked on the door. No answer.

"Maybe he's relaxing?" Hannah offered. "Perhaps he's meditating upon his actions and deciding how to talk to his friend?"

"You live in your own little world, don't ya?" Mac sighed. "Does Zane seem like the kinda guy that meditates? Yo, Zane! Open the fuck up!"

No answer.

"That's it," Mac opens the unlocked door and they see that no one is inside. "He's not even here! Okay, we tried!"

"Wait! What if he's out there, walking around feeling sad because of the fight?"

"Well, then, being here won't help us regardless!"

"Wow, his room is a mess."

"Yeah, and he tells me I'm lazy and unmotivated. What's going over there?"

Mac and Hannah walked over to the desk where Zane had made notes on the angel cards. Luna's Urichast and Jack's Raphility were placed there. Zane had been analyzing them with a magnifying glass and a microscope.

The notes said things like:

-Need to get over own issues to activate

-Material composition, scent, inking, and coloration identical to other holographic cards

-Buy toilet paper

-Buy more notepads

-Buy paper in general

"Man, waiting to get over your issues seems so time-consuming. My jumpstart idea is way better," Mac whined.

"What exactly is your jumpstart idea? I saw the diagram but it just looked like you planned on connected your angel card with another one, which, no offense, seems sorta stupid."

"Thanks for the confidence boost. But I know what I'm doing. These cards provide their own power with the simple touch of a Planeswalker. All I have to do is connect them with jumper cables and ta-da!"

"You know how Zane mentioned sloth? This is maybe what he's talking about."

"What? You think I'm just some lazy idiot, too!?"

"No, no! That's not what I said! Take it easy! I just mean that maybe you to wait it out till you activate it by learning a fundamental lesson. Zane learned the meaning of patience as well as acting to take initiative and using anger as a righteous power. He's still grumpy but he's better. Luna proved that despite her lust-inducing looks and healthy sex drive, she's loyal and faithful to her fiancé, while standing up to sexual predators and proclaiming faithfulness and chastity. Jack understood the meaning of getting over his pride and having enough humility to admit when he's wrong and ask for help."

"So, what are you saying I gotta do?"

"The opposite of sloth is diligence. So maybe learn how to do it by working at it?"

"Or just do the work to do it myself! Using my mind to solve issues is diligence! Thanks, Hannah!"

Mac grabbed Urichast and Raphility and ran out.

"That's not what I meant!" Hannah yelled after him.

(Youtube music: Benny Hill's Theme)

Hannah ran back to Mac's room as he placed the positive and ground ends of the cables on Urichast.

"Luna's angel is better because she uses defensive magic. Plus, she's blue, which is nice," Mac giggled like a little child.

"This is a bad idea!" Hannah warned. "We don't know anything about these angel cards and we really oughta study this before we do anything like…like…"

Mac chuckled as he placed the positive and negative ends of the other side on his own blank card. Suddenly, a deep blue light burst from the card.

"Like that…," Hannah finished, putting her hand up to block the strong light.

Mac struggled to see through the light as the images and letters appeared on the card.

Gabrence, the Indomitable Juggernaut.

"That sounds bad…," Mac squeaked and…everything went black.

Concurrently, a knocking on the door pulled Luna and Mary away from the tasking of cleaning up the room.

"Is Zane back?" Mary asked.

"He has a key," Luna replied. "Why would he need to knock?"

"Maybe he's planning an amazing entrance," Mary gasped. "With lights and drums and singing and squids!"

"Uhhh…why squids?" Luna asked.

"Sorry, I finally watched 'Sing'!" Mary confessed.

Luna smiled and rolled her eyes. She opened the door to find Hannibal standing there with a big bottle of champagne.

(Youtube music: Gilderoy Lockhart)

"Oh, no…," Luna mumbled, but quickly recomposed herself. "Hello, Hannibal. What brings you by?"

"I heard it was the hothead's jerk-weasel's birthday so I figured I might as well as show up!" Hannibal announced as he walked in. "When's the party?"

"An hour ago," Luna mumbled.

"Well, restart the party 'cause I got the most happening booze!" Hannibal replied.

"That's a $4.47 bottle of Andre Brut from Total Wine and More!" Mary observed.

"I don't have an income anymore, Hot Legs!" Hannibal yelled.

Hannibal and Mary glared at each other.

"Okay! Hey, relax, guys!" Luna pulled them away from each other. "Take it easy, Mary. Pardon the pervert. He can't help who he is. Hannibal, thank you for coming and bringing the bottle of slow-killing poison, but no one here drinks. In fact, Zane can't even get drunk since he's a werewolf."

"So…can I drink it?" Hannibal asked, hopefully.

"Not here," Luna ordered. "But at your own home, proceed to knock yourself out."

"And she means that literally," Mary added.

"Anyways, the real reason I came is to hand you guys this," Hannibal pulled out a small silver rectangle out of his pocket. It was decorated with swirling designs and a green emerald.

"That looks familiar," Luna observed, taking the rectangle from Hannibal. "Is this the Librum Virtute?"

"I compressed it into a pocket edition," Hannibal chuckled. "Now even ya wimps can carry it around!"

"Said the jackass with smoker's lungs and a bad back," Mary shot back.

Hannibal is about to give a snappy retort when…BOOM!

"Did you plan fireworks!?" Hannibal yelled.

"I don't think so!" Luna yelled back.

Jack and Becky ran in from the kitchen.

"What the hell was that?" Jack yelled, then pointed at Hannibal. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Nice to meet ya too, G.I. Jack," Hannibal groaned.

"I think that came from Mac's room!" Becky pulled them back on track. "He and Hannah could be in trouble!"

The five of them ran down to Mac's room only to find a cloud of dust and debris strewn everywhere. Through the dust, the saw a small body lying there.

"Hannah!" Luna yelled and ran to her. She crouched down to the tiny girl and began casting a healing spell with her glowing hands.

(See card: Healing Hands)

The others looked at the remains of Mac's room. Or what was his room.

Half the room was missing along with the branches of the oak tree it was resting on.

"Something smashed through here!" Jack exclaimed. "What the hell happened, Hannah?"

Hannah was up now, looking exhausted and beat up.

"Mac made a mistake…," she squeaked. "He used your angel cards to jumpstart his own…"

"WHAT!?" Luna yelled. "What made him think that was even a good idea?"

"Pure, unadulterated sloth," Becky replied.

"Well, this is interesting," Hannibal chuckled. "Dumbass thought he'd be able to bypass learning a fundamental lesson by taking a shortcut. He's probably transformed into his angel and has no ability to control himself."

"He can't control his own angel?" Jack asked. "How do you figure that?"

"Read the book," Hannibal offered.

Luna pulled out the Librum Virtute.

"Is that the big silver book?" Hannah asked.

"Pocket edition," Luna winked and checked it. "Okay, they're apparently called the Sealed Virtues Angels. 'Seven angels created by the combination of Alara's excess power and the essence of human virtue…can only be unsealed by the realization of the presence of sin…if one can't control the anger, untethered righteous fury rages upon all…' Sort of a retribution for being stupid enough to take the easy way out."

"How slothful is Mac?" Hannibal smiled.

Everyone sighed.

"Hey, look!" Mary brought their attention over to her. She picked something off the floor. "Your angels!"

Mary handed Luna and Jack their angels. Both of them felt relieved, but at the same time…

"He…used…our…angels…," Luna started.

"For…his…goddamn…shortcut," Jack finished.

"He's dead meat!" the couple yelled and ran out of the house.

"Ah, to be young and in love and royally pissed off," Hannibal sighed.

"We should go, too," Becky offered.

The other three girls ran out as well.

"Ah, don't worry about me," Hannibal laughed. "I'll just sit here, drink my champagne, and whack off to porn! Hehehe!"

Hannibal popped open the bottle and sent the cork flying about. The cork ricocheted off the wood walls and hit him in the nuts, forcing him to the ground.

"Somebody help…man down…help…," he squeaked.

Zane trudged through a city plaza right outside the massive Bazaarden Mall. The snow fell gently around him. The autumn weather in this city was so unpredictable. Sunny one day, rainy the next, snowy a few days later. Winter was fast approaching this year and it already felt like it should be December.

He looked to the side of the street opposite to the mall. Construction was on hold due to the weather and the half-built buildings looked haunted as opposed to the bustling utopia they faced.

Zane pulled his jacket closer as the thoughts in his head seemed colder than the air around him.

"They don't like what you did…," a voice rang through his head.

SHUT UP!

"Nobody in that house is gonna take your side!"

SHUT UP!

"Why don't you just leave? You never belonged in that family and you don't belong in this house!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Zane yelled, scaring the shoppers around him. He glared at them, breathing hard. They quickly scampered away.

He regained his composure and kept walking, only to be stopped by an odd feeling.

He looked to his left and upwards to see a CCTV camera staring right at him. He looked to his right and saw another one. Looking around, he realized that a series of cameras that were supposed to be overlooking about two miles of walkway and one-point-five acres of parking space were all looking at him.

He looked up and grinned menacingly.

In a dark room where the only light source were twenty computer screens, two well-dressed people, a tall woman and pudgy man were watching a red dot move around in a suspicious manner. Windows on the screen showed a short, scruffy-hair man in a long black coat walking around hurriedly.

A man of moderate height and little hair, bobbing along in a suede suit and glasses, hurried over to them.

"What did you say he did?" the man asked, mildly out of breath.

"He stopped and looked around. Pretty sure he noticed the camera's looking at him. Personally, I thought that was a stupid idea," the lady replied. "Are you okay, Doctor?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," the balding doctor waved her off. "Elevator's broken. What else?"

"Well, he's nothing like Roosevelt, who of course was tailed for three years before he realized he was being watched," the man answered. "Hunter realized after just minutes that we were watching."

"I mean, did he do anything else?" the doctor asked in a more precise manner. "Did the satellite pick anything up in his movements?"

(Youtube music: Sherlock - Pursuit)

"Nothing yet and…oh wait, what is he doing?" the woman observed.

Down at the plaza, Zane had begun walking around and in loops and long sprints, jumping around occasionally.

"Is he saying something?" the man wondered. "I'll turn on the tracer."

In the dark room, the satellite imaging traced his path around. A big loop, then a loop below it. A curving motion, a big curve, then a curve down and way up. Then he backtracked down and shot up. Then sprinted down, then back up for another loop. Then he curved out and stopped.

Everyone in the room, twenty or so people, was watching this display now with bated breath.

Then he started back up, jumping off the initial pattern lines and curves to a new pattern a curve up, backtrack down and around, a small loop within curves and out. Then a big loop above and one below, repeated the two loops to the side, and stopped.

The patterned was clear in elegant cursive and expert typographical excellence:

fuck off

Zane walked off, looking rather proud of himself.

"Okay, so he knows we're watching," the man stated.

"What gave it away?" the woman asked. "The bitch-faced murderous stare he gave us or the profanity currently littering all the screens in this room?"

The man just gave her an annoyed look.

"Regardless," the doctor smiled nervously. "He's good. The whole family is like this. I'd assume we'd get a similar result from his sister, but with significantly less profanity."

"What do we do now?" the woman asked.

Zane walked on, much more at ease, until another feeling of apprehension took over. He could hear it well before it arrived. And smell it. Big, explosive, metal, and giving off the sound and scent of burning fuel.

It arrived like a jet flying too close to the ground, blasting over the area and sending shoppers into a panic. It flew around a bit and then descended to all fours. It looked familiar. It also had a familiar scent. Like stale Cheetos and IHOP takeout. The same IHOP take-out that he and all his friends had gotten for his party.

Slowly, it rose to its max height, standing thirty feet tall. Silver, gold, and royal blue plates and panels shifted as it went from some sort of high-speed flight mode to a terrestrial mode. Its arms swung about, each decorated with a massive arm panel that carried two sharp blades two feet long and razor-sharp. Black, metal-covered hands rotated out of each arm. Massive legs touched the ground and pushed the sidewalk down under its weight, massive gold claws grabbing hold of the earth. Its massive silver wings tucked in as a dome on the top opened and revealed a gold and silver bear-like head with sharp silver fangs and red, menacing eyes.

Eyes that were staring at Zane as the big hulking creature breathed in and out with angry animal-like growls, staring at him with intent.

Zane noticed that there was a lit-up panel on its chest with a symbol on it. A cross with a strange curve on its right. The symbol of…

"Saturn? Wait, are you…"

"Zane!" a voice yelled behind him.

The smell of flowers and pastels told him it was Hannah as she ran up behind him and hugged his arm tight.

"Please,…he's not himself…," Hannah gasped through a red face and eyes filled with tears. The rest of the team ran caught up to them, decked out in their usual equipments and enchantments.

"Is that Mac?" Zane guessed. "How?"

"He used mine and Luna's angel cards to jumpstart his own shit and it took over him," Jack hurriedly explained. "Also, Hannibal's in the house doing unspeakable things."

(Youtube music: Gilderoy Lockhart)

Hannibal was lying on the couch with an ice pack on his crotch, drinking champagne out of a fancy glass as he skimmed through porn on the computer, which was hooked up to the television to aid the experience.

"Huh… 'Whorey Potter and the Sorcerer's Balls'…sounds interesting…at least I'm comfortable now…"

The porn began and immediately, Hannibal regretted it.

"AAAAAAAH! It's just men! Oh, God, why!?"

Back at the mall, the massive hulking mad angel known as Gabrence started down his friends, specifically Zane.

"Please, you have to help him," Hannah squeaked and hiccupped through her tears. "I tried to stop him and…he didn't listen…and I'm sorry…please…"

Zane gave her an affectionate pat on the head and walked forward.

"So, we've come to this," Zane spoke up.

Gabrence let out a massive bear roar at Zane, who grew out his fangs and roared right back, shaking the windows and making the last of the shoppers run off in fear.

(Youtube music: Driving with the Top Down)

Zane pulled Azrience out and put on his armor. Luna and Jack followed suit with Urichast and Raphility. The others, minus angels, fell back but took a fighting stance nonetheless.

"Mac, you got one chance," Zane ordered. "Fall back now."

Gabrence roared again.

"Then this is your fault," Zane announced and shot into the battle, the rest of the team behind him.

Zane punched Gabrence in the face, releasing micro missiles as he did, blasting his face upon impact.

Panels opened up all over Gabrence and released series of missiles.

"Oh, crap! Guys, intercept!"

The team got on it. But not before taking a few painful hits from the smaller missiles.

Once they got their act together, Becky blasted missiles with jets of water to destroy them in midair. Mary shot lightning out of her hands and relayed her Thopters into a coordinated barrage. Hannah copied the two of them while shooting vines that surgically impaled the missiles, blowing them up. Jack shot missiles with his feather arrows.

(See card: Hydrosurge)

(See card: Galvanic Blast)

(See card: Thopter Squadron)

(See card: Coordinated Barrage)

(See card: Reverberate)

(See card: Crushing Vines)

(See card: Hail of Arrows)

Luna faces two large missiles. Her four wings responded to her need. The top two wings grew shards of ice and covered her. The missiles exploded against the magical ice, destroying it, but leaving the wings and Luna underneath unharmed. The wings unfurled.

The bottom two wings became mirror-like, geometric and glossy, like dragonfly wings. Missiles shot out of the wings, replicating Gabrence's magic, and shot at their master.

(See card: Twincast)

Zane got out of the way of the missiles, but Gabrence destroyed them with more missiles. The debris and explosions barely seemed to phase it.

"Good plan, but I think he's like me with my armor," Zane replied. "An infinite hammerspace. He'll never run out of missiles."

"And he seems to be a lot more physically defensive than any of us," Mary observed.

Zane jetted towards him and the two of them began brawling, crashing around and slamming each other into things. Zane, being about a sixth of the size of Gabrence, took considerably more hits.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Ayashii Madoushi)

"That's Mac, all right," Becky droned. "A big lumbering meathead."

Gabrence punched Zane into a wall.

"Maybe the fact that we're so mean to him is why he's like this," Jack offered.

Zane grabbed Gabrence's arm and ripped it off, revealing no human arm inside.

"Speak for yourself, I'm always nice to him," Luna snapped back. "It's not my fault Zane and Becky are grumpy, callous jerks all the time."

Zane began slapping Gabrence with his own arm. "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

"He just wanted to be accepted and we turned him into a monster!" Hannah cried.

"I'm gonna get you outta that suit, Mac!" Zane yelled and punched Gabrence, who simply reeled back, roared, and charged.

"He really cares!" Hannah cheered.

"And beat your ass for taking a stupid-ass shortcut while the rest of us had to work for it!" Zane added and launched Gabrence's own arm at him.

"He doesn't care…," Hannah groaned.

"Shouldn't we help?" Mary reminded everyone.

"Nah, he's got it," Jack replied.

"The more of us that get involved, the more of a mess this will make," Becky explained. "We're here as more of an as-needed basis, so to speak. Luna and Jack would go in before us angel-less folk."

Zane tried to put Gabrence into a choke hold, but to no avail. Gabrence activated his jets.

"And this is between Zane and Mac and their issues," Jack added. "This is a result of their argument. And one thing I learned growing up with a fucking litter of siblings, most of them boys, is that if you're in an argument, sometimes you just gotta brawl it out."

Gabrence flew up and into the mall, breaking a sizeable chunk of the front edifice and triggering the alarms.

"Although, not if you wreck the place!" Jack yelled in panic.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail - Invoke Magic)

The team flew/ran in after them.

Luna immediately cast a spell and the alarm shut off.

(See card: Annul)

Mary caught up to them and tried to pry Zane off, but ended up forced to hang on for dear life.

(See card: Accelerate)

"What are you doing!?" Zane yelled.

"Trying to help!" Mary yelled back.

"And how's that going!?"

"Not well!"

The three of them jetted over and around everything in the mall. The food court was ravaged.

"Not my Sbarro's!" Luna screamed.

They obliterated most of the tech stores, making Jack stutter and stare blankly at the wreckage.

"It was so clean and pretty before," Jack whined.

They blew the door off the Disney store.

"NOOOO!" Luna and Hannah screamed.

They rammed through the Duncan Enterprises ATMs and money went everywhere.

"I'm okay with this," Becky DUNCAN droned, trying to keep herself calm.

They hit the merry-go-round and began spinning at high speed.

"Hey, look at that!" Jack exclaimed. "Mary-go-round and around and around!"

Luna punched him in the arm for this comment.

Suddenly, the ride exploded, sending all three of them flying off, into the window, and back out of the mall, causing the already wrecked front edifice to collapse entirely.

The rest of team followed them out.

Gabrence stood, still hulking but disoriented. Zane was on the ground, worn out and breathing hard. Mary tried to stand up, but dizzily fell over. Luna caught her.

"Thanks, but how are we gonna solve this?" Mary asked.

"Better yet, how are we gonna deal with all this wreckage?" Hannah countered.

"Same way we always do," Zane groaned and stood up.

"Haul ass and hope no one saw us there," Jack nodded.

Luna sighed, as she didn't want to admit it, but that was probably the best option.

"We'll do that right after handling this," Zane growled as he pulsed with energy four times and began glowing red aura as he gathered an enormous amount of mana. "I didn't want to pull out the literal big guns, but clearly taking it easy on you isn't gonna cut it. Mac! I'm giving you till the count of five to stop! Ready?"

(See card: Seething Song)

"All that was holding back?" Hannah squeaked in fear. "What are you about to do to him!?"

"Watch!" Zane answered. His arm panels shifted to show a sort of incremental instrumental on each forearm.

Gabrence roared at Zane and charged.

(Youtube music: Fairy Tail Original Theme)

"One!"

Zane blasted Gabrence with arcing volleys of lightning, stopping the brute in his tracks. The instruments on Zane's arm each gained one small red blip on them.

(See card: Lightning Helix)

"Two!"

Zane's helmet shifted open, allowing Zane to release a massive blast of fire from his mouth, sending Gabrence flying back. Two blips. Gabrence popped open his barrels and prepared to launch an attack.

(See card: Fireball)

"Three!"

Zane's helmet shut back as he gathered energy. The sky flashed red for a brief second. Zane brought the energy together into a ball of fire in his hands and launched it at Gabrence, blasting him back even further. Three blips.

(See card: Red Sun's Zenith)

Gabrence responded to this by activating a powerful weapon. A horrid screech erupted from his mouth and assaulted everyone's eardrums.

(See card: Warping Wail)

"THAT'S AWFUL!" Jack yelled.

"MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!" Becky yelled back.

"WHAT!?" Mary screamed.

"It's a counterspell!" Luna yelled. "Stop right there!"

Everyone's tinnitus wore off almost momentarily as Luna touched her neck to cast her own counterspell using the glow of small stone on the necklace that came with her angel form.

(See card: Dawn Charm)

"Thanks, Luna!" Zane yelled.

"Careful! I only have four shots in one battle with this Dawn Charm!" Luna warned.

"Zane, look out!" Mary yelled.

As Zane looked back, he realized that Gabrence had switched into an assault position as his head had split apart to allow a massive barrel to pop out and begin charging.

"And four!"

Zane pulled his shield from the back as the Gabrence fired. The shield blocked the blast and shot it back at Gabrence who seemed unmoved and unaffected by his own energy. Four blips.

(See card: Boros Fury-Shield)

"Last chance!"

Gabrence roared.

"And five!"

Zane's eyes and chest emblem all flashed a powerful light that stunned Gabrence and left him confused and dazed. Five blips.

(See card: Blinding Flare)

"Luna! Jack! Arrest him!" Zane yelled.

Luna and Jack flew in, both shooting yellow rope-like magic strands from their weapons, Luna casting them about like a spell and Jack literally shooting them out, and trapping Gabrence in the strands.

(See card: Arrest)

Zane yelled as massive barrels popped out of his forearm armor and quickly gained loads of red energy compacted into spheres of fiery, all of which was shot at Gabrence.

(See card: Five-Alarm Fire)

Gabrence finally fell to his knees and then hit the ground. His back and major joints exploded.

"It took all that to bring him down," Becky realized. "He must have a ridiculously sturdy defense. If he learns to control it and stay motivated, Mac could be a force to be reckoned with."

Zane ran to the smoldering armor and pulled pieces apart until he managed to get to the center. A cockpit with computer screens and controllers for the weapons were arranged in front of a cushy seat made for a tall man and the tall man in question was passed out, snoring and oblivious, in the seat.

"Are you serious?" Luna growled.

"Are you telling me…?" Jack added.

"THAT THIS WHOLE FUCKING TIME, HE WAS ASLEEP!" Zane yelled.

Getting back home was relatively easy after they yanked Mac out and woke him up.

Apologizing profusely, he begged for forgiveness.

"I'm not gonna not forgive you, ya dumbass!" Zane yelled at him. "Just don't do something so stupid again! You have any idea how scared I was!"

Zane and Mac talked out their issues on the way home as the rest of the team followed behind them.

"Considering that they've been best friends for fifteen years, I doubt much of anything would split them apart," Luna commented.

"Probably why you're okay with Mac living with you guys," Mary added. "He probably feels like a distant family member that you really enjoy seeing every day."

"Yeah, kinda," Luna agreed.

Finally arriving at home, they are not at all surprised to see a drunk Hannibal passed out on their couch, covered in an old blanket. The television was off and the computer was still connected to it.

"Fantastic," Luna sighed. "What a lovely sight. At least he used one of the old, ratty blankets. Get up, Hannibal, time to go home!"

Luna took off the blanket to reveal something disgusting.

"OH! EW! NO!" Luna exclaimed.

"What? What happened?" Jack ran over.

"What else?" Becky guessed. "He jerked himself to sleep and didn't zip up as a result."

Everyone went into a fit of gagging and laughter at this.

Hannibal woke up.

"Oh, hey, you're back!" Hannibal mumbled, drunkenly. "Fantastic! Hey, this is a great blanket!"

"Keep it," Luna nodded. "If you don't, I'll probably have Zane burn it."

"Can I burn Hannibal, too?"

Hannibal blew a raspberry towards Zane, who countered with his middle finger. Luna led Hannibal out. After they cleaned the couch, they finished cleaning up the rest of the room.

Mac had to take a spare room as the repairs to his room would take a while.

As everyone headed off to bed, Zane and Mac were left inspecting the living room. As Zane nodded and started leaving, Mac called out, "Hey."

"What's up?"

"We're good, right?"

"Yeah, we're good. Just gonna get some sleep since we gotta repair your room tomorrow."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll get control over my angel soon."

"I know you will, bro."

Zane went over to Mac and gave him a big bro hug. Luna came in and saw them and smiled. She quickly grabbed what she needed and left, happy and content.

Zane and Mac let go and nodded. Zane left.

"Just gonna watch some stuff and then pass out," Mac grabbed the remote.

"Sounds good." Zane left.

Mac turned on the television to immediately see a graphic scene from Whorey Potter and the Sorcerer's Balls.

The scream of horror Mac let out was way worse than Gabrence's Warping Wail.


End file.
